Rachel Reeves in another embarrassing U-turn after fury from pubs | Politics | News
Rachel Reeves is set to make a U-turn on a business rates increase for pubs after a furious backlash. The government is expected to announce changes to the proposals in the coming days.
It comes as ministers face growing concerns about the pub sector with the withdrawal of a Covid-era tax cut announced in the budget. April will also bring new rateable values for commercial properties, which will be revalued to reflect changes in the property market.
Shadow Jobs Secretary Andrew Griffith said: “It’s only been a month and the Budget is already falling apart. Labor made the mistake of storming the pubs and now has to make another u-turn, as Kemi called for this morning.”
“But this humiliating trend does nothing for shops, restaurants, hotels and markets, which are facing more than 50 percent increases. This is not the stability that Rachel Reeves promises, but a recipe for economic disaster.”
“Only the Conservatives have a strong leader with a clear plan to keep things afloat by cutting business rates for thousands of local high street firms.”
It comes after a Cabinet minister hinted more support could be on the way, insisting the Government values ”the pub’s role in British life”.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Let me explain to the listeners that there are three different things going on in pubs at the moment: the actual rates being applied, those levels have been reduced, but there’s also been a revaluation which has increased bills, and some of the Covid support that was put in place a few years ago has been withdrawn.
“Without government action, the combined effect of all three of these things will be a huge increase in pubs’ bills.”
It comes as Kemi Badenoch vowed to scrap business rates for thousands of British pubs, accusing the Government of treating them “like milking cash cows”.
The Conservative leader told The Daily Telegraph that his party had “identified billions of pounds of savings from things like cutting the welfare bill and reducing the size of the Civil Service”.
He said these savings would allow a future Conservative government to cut business rates for “entirely thousands” of pubs.
Ms Badenoch told the paper: “Like many of Britain’s small businesses, pubs are being treated by Labor as cash cows to be milked, rather than as places to protect.
“As a government we’ve done everything we can to support them. We’ve cut business rates during the pandemic. We’ve reformed alcohol duty and made it so you’ll always pay less tax on a pint bought in a pub than in the supermarket. And we’ve helped hundreds of communities buy into local pubs to save them from closure.
“This wasn’t enough for every pub, but it made a huge difference to many. The Conservatives have not given up on saving the Great British Pub.”
