Lords Chamber

Thursday 29th January 2026

(began 2 hours, 2 minutes ago)

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11:08
None Portrait Introduction(s): Lord Babudu; Lord Blackwater
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Charles Charles III, Charles III, by Charles III, by the Charles III, by the Grace Charles III, by the Grace of Charles III, by the Grace of God Charles III, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of our other realms and territories. King. Head of the Commonwealth, defender of the Faith to all Lords, spiritual and temporal, and all other our subjects. Whatsoever to whom these presents shall come. Greeting. Know ye that we of our special grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, in pursuance of the Life Peerages Act 1958, and of all other powers, in that behalf us enabling do by these presents advance, create and prefer our trusty and well beloved Peter Bonea baboo to the state degree, style, dignity, title and honour of Baron Barbuda, of Peckham, in our London Borough of Southwark.

And for us, our heirs and successors do appoint, give and grant unto him the said name. State, degree, style, dignity, title and honour of Baron Barbuda. To have and to hold unto him for his life willing and by these presents granting for us our heirs and successors, that he may have, hold and possess a seat, place, and voice in the parliaments and public assemblies and councils of us, our heirs and successors within our United Kingdom, amongst the Barons, and also that he may enjoy and use all the rights, privileges, Preeminences, immunities and advantages to the.

To the degree of a Baron duly and of right belonging, which Barons of our United Kingdom have heretofore used and enjoyed, or, as they do at present, use and enjoy. In witness whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent witness ourself at Westminster in the afternoon of the 16th day of January, in the fourth year of our reign, by warrant under year of our reign, by warrant under the King's sign-manual.

**** Possible New Speaker ****

I Peter Lord Babudu, do swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors according to
11:14
None Portrait Introduction(s); Lord Blackwater
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>> >> Charles >> Charles III, >> Charles III, by >> Charles III, by the >> Charles III, by the grace >> Charles III, by the grace of >> Charles III, by the grace of God of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of our other realms and territories. of our other realms and territories. King, head of the Commonwealth, defender of the Faith to all Lords, spiritual and temporal, and all spiritual and temporal, and all other our subjects. Whatsoever to whom these presents shall come.

whom these presents shall come. Greeting. Know ye that we of our special grace, certain knowledge, and mere motion, in pursuance of the Life Peerages Act 1958, and of all other powers, in that behalf us enabling do by these presents advance, create, and prefer our trusty and well-beloved Simon James Heffer to the state degree, style, dignity, title and honour of Baron Blackwater, of Great and Little Leighs, in our county of Essex, and for us, our heirs and successors, do appoint, give and grant unto him the said name, state, degree, style, dignity, title and honour of Baron Blackwater, to have and to hold unto him for his life willing, and by these presents granting for us our heirs and successors, that he may have, hold and possess a seat, place, and voice in the parliaments and public assemblies and councils of us, our heirs and successors within our United Kingdom, amongst the Barons, and also that he may enjoy and use all the rights, privileges, Preeminences, immunities and advantages to the degree of a Baron duly and of right belonging, which Barons of our United Kingdom have heretofore used and enjoyed, or, as they do at present, use and enjoy.

In witness whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent witness ourself at Westminster in the afternoon of the 27th day of January, in the fourth year of our reign, by warrant under the King's sign-manual. I, Simon, Lord Blackwater, do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and affirm that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors,
11:19
None Portrait Oral questions: The number of fines imposed by regulators on England’s water companies in 2024 and 2025 which are yet to be paid in full
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None Portrait Oral questions: Extending the scope of eligibility for the Erasmus+ scheme, including to asylum seekers
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Second.
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None Portrait Oral questions: Reversing the decline in public trust of national politics in the UK
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Other innovative ways. Apologies. Third Oral Question Lord Wallace of Saltaire. the name of the Order Paper.
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12:03
Baroness Neville-Rolfe Portrait Baroness Neville-Rolfe (Conservative)
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I beg to move the motion, Paper. Paper. >> That this motion be agreed to, as many of that opinion will say content contrary, not content. The content contrary, not content. The contents have it questions on a statement made in the House of Commons on Tuesday 27th of January Commons on Tuesday 27th of January on business rates Lord Livermore.

**** Possible New Speaker ****

Here we are again discussing yet another U-turn when the government another U-turn when the government concludes after public outrage at an announcement that they have made and after some tardy reflection, that perhaps they did not get matters right first time. What is matters right first time. What is offered is not merely tardy but inadequate. It fails to grapple with the pressures now bearing down with the pressures now bearing down on small businesses across the country, especially pressure from business rates.

My Lords, it is essential that we look beyond the Treasury's abstractions and confront the real world consequences of the changes announced in the budget, and which remain even after this U-turn. Tina McKenzie of the Federation of Small Businesses has warned following this latest announcement that it simply proves that the government repeatedly fails to recognise the difficulty that small businesses are in. I could not echo that more strongly, Andrew Goodacre, the chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, went further, describing this change as a half baked U-turn and warning that independent retail is being flushed around the u-bend.

He added, tellingly, that he could not recall a worse policy decision, cautioning that this poor decision based is based on poor reasoning that will inevitably lead to more shop closures and so on. My Lords, the Minister has said that when he that he wishes to work with businesses and in the face of this negative and consistent feedback from these businesses themselves, especially from SMEs, it seems he has been unsuccessful in that aim. It is abundantly clear that the statement addresses only a small fraction of the economic damage inflicted on businesses since they took office.

Nor is the inadequacy merely one of will. The relief announced is by the government's own designed temporary. So it's a sticking plaster applied to a deep and structural wound. My Lords, one of the most persistent economic misunderstandings this government has displayed since assuming office is a failure to grasp what businesses actually need, its clarity, its consistency and its certainty. Businesses do not want U-turns. They do not want short lived reliefs. They do not want promises trailed in briefings only to be withdrawn or re-announced days later, as we all saw before the budget.

And this announcement exemplifies that failure in its entirety. And worse still, everyone in the sector is saying its inadequate. And if the noble Lord, the Minister, will not listen to His Majesty's opposition, he might perhaps listen to the Labour backbenchers. Jim McMahon and Stella Creasy made the point I am making in the other place. Just this week when Parliament, publicans, business leaders and his own backbenchers are urging a reconsideration. What more is the Minister waiting for? This is ultimately a question of credibility.

Businesses do not measure this by press releases or promises of future strategies. They measure it by whether they can plan, invest and survive. And what has been announced does not provide that certainty. It is limited in scope, temporary by design, and arrived only after external pressure became unsustainable. That's not how stable tax policy is made, and it's not how confidence is restored. And the truth is that confidence in hospitality and retail is fragile. We heard only this morning from Charlie Nunn, CEO of Lloyds Bank, that the sectors in question were having a challenging time.

So what assessment has the Treasury made of the number of such businesses that have already cancelled investment, reduced staffing or decided to close since the budget because the government has failed to provide clarity as to their intentions, and if the government truly wished to work with businesses, they must move beyond reactive concessions and bring forward a coherent, durable approach that treats the whole high street fairly and gives enterprises the certainty they need to grow. Until that happens, I fear this week's announcement will not be seen as a solution, but as an admission of failure.

The modest action on pubs is, of course, welcome, and a promise has been made to look at hotels. But will the noble Lord, the Minister, agree to look at rates for the wider retail, hospitality and leisure sectors before the next budget? Thousands and thousands of shops, cafes, hotels, nightclubs, cinemas and theatres are still facing huge increases. The combination of higher taxes and rates, extra regulation and energy prices for business four times those in the United States, is crippling these very sectors, and I do hope the Minister will be able to promise some relief to.
12:09
Baroness Kramer Portrait Baroness Kramer (Liberal Democrat)
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My Lords. modicum of welcome that because the combined impact of the budget and business rates revaluation prior to this announcement, frankly left the pub industry on the verge of a crisis, with up to 50% of pubs under threat of closure now. So some relief has now been offered for many pubs, and I'm very glad that this lifeline has been extended to live music venues, which are the birthing ground of our very critical music industry.

But my Lords, does the government still recognise that the relief that it's just announced only amounts to roughly £1,650 per pub, which for many is still going to leave them in a critical financial hole that pubs with a rateable value over £100,000 are not eligible in effect, that restaurants, cafes, soft play areas. So many of those hospitality and leisure operations which lie at the heart of both our high streets and our communities, they get no relief from these changes whatsoever.

Sir, my Lords, I think the chaos that has surrounded the announcement, the review, the change, the uncertainty that's gone with it and the impact on the sector surely points to the fact that we need to stop trying to fix the business rate system at the fringes and to really take a proper step back and review the whole way in which business rates are structured. I would say heading in the direction of land value, but there's so much to be done around this area, and it's time that the government absolutely seize this rather than get into continuous messes that as attempting to ameliorate a system which, frankly, is broken.

And does the government also accept that the chaotic process that we've seen deeply underscores the need to include hospitality in the industrial strategy? Because at the very least, one would have some hope that that the effect of that would be to force Treasury to align tax policy with, presumably, the economic goal of strengthening our high streets, strengthening our hospitality and leisure sectors, and determining that they are a source of growth and not of constant crisis and constraint. That and until, frankly, Treasury gets aligned with that agenda, does he accept that we are going to have constant issues like this? And frankly, it really isn't the best way to go? Yeah.
12:12
Lord Livermore Portrait Lord Livermore, The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Labour)
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I'm very grateful to both noble Ladies and Baroness Neville-Rolfe and Baroness Kramer for their comments and questions and I think for their cautious welcome for what we have announced. The noble Lady Baroness Neville-Rolfe, in her comments, I think ignores what we did announce in the budget, namely £4.3 billion of support for those experiencing increases in business rates. The previous valuation, as she knows, was based on property values during the Covid pandemic, which meant rateable values were much lower.

And that did mean that some businesses, including the retail, hospitality and leisure venues that we are discussing here, are now seeing an increase as a result of this valuation. So at the budget, we announced three elements of support a cost of, as I say, £4.3 billion, which that neither noble Lady mentioned in their comments. We're implementing transitional relief, which caps increases by 5% for the smallest properties and up to 30% for the largest for any business whose value has increased so that they are no longer eligible for small business rates relief.

We're capping their increase, and we've expanded the supporting small business scheme to provide specific support to those who are currently eligible for the 40% RH relief. The noble Lady Baroness Kramer, said that the wider system needs reform, and of course, we absolutely agree with that. We've begun that we're reforming the business rates system by introducing permanently lower tax rates for over 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties. The noble Lady Baroness Neville-Rolfe said that what we were doing was temporary, but those new lower rates are permanent, unlike what the previous government did, and that is funded by higher rates on the most valuable properties, including those for online giants.

I would just like to remind the noble Lady Baroness Neville-Rolfe that the previous government's plans were to scrap the temporary Covid era retail, hospitality and leisure relief entirely in 2025. And yet now, she says that more support should be offered if they had won the last election, their plans clearly show they would removed it overnight in April of last year. They now claim that extend it. So why did they not say so, and why did they not include that in their forecasts or their projections? As I say, I'm grateful to the noble Lady Baroness Kramer for what she has said was a cautious welcome for what had been announced.

Of course, we've been listening to the industry. We have now announced that from April, every pub in England will get 15% off its new business rates bill, on top of the support announced at the budget. Their bills will then be frozen in real terms for a further two years. Baroness Kramer noted that the support is worth £1,650 for the average pub next year, but that does mean that three quarters of pubs will see their bills either fall or stay flat next year. And this decision also means that the amount of business rates paid by the pub sector as a whole will be 8% lower in 2829 than it is today.

Baroness Kramer I think noble Lady Baroness Kramer said that the rateable value businesses pubs with rateable values over 100,000 would not benefit. But this does apply to all pubs and I think we should be clear about that. She also said and I'm grateful to what she said about it. Applying to music venues. Too many music venues are valued as pubs and many pubs are grassroots live music venues, so it would not be right to seek to draw the line so tightly. So to include some and not others.

The noble Lady Baroness Neville-Rolfe also talked about the structural issues that many of these businesses are facing, and she'll know that the sector has raised concerns about the way they are valued, and the government agrees. This needs to be looked at and is therefore launching a review which will examine how pubs are valued for business rates and will set out more detail of that review in due course. The noble Lady Baroness Neville-Rolfe spent a lot of her statement telling us about what businesses need.

I think what they most important need is stability. I think what they didn't need was the last government with the Liz Truss mini budget, with Brexit, with austerity and all the consequences that they had. Well, she, she comments on what we're doing for business. She'll know that under the last government, business investment was the lowest in the entire G7 and that since the election, business investment has increased faster in this country than it has increased in any other G7 country. So I'm more than happy to compare her record with ours.

She will know that we are pressing ahead with wider regulatory reforms to help businesses. She'll know that we are doing licensing reform, and she knows that we are looking at loosening planning rules to benefit pubs more generally. She'll also know that we are doubling the hospitality Support Fund with £10 million of funding over three years. The noble Lady, Baroness Kramer talked about the importance of the sector to growth and the noble Lady Baroness Neville-Rolfe talked about the challenges faced by the wider sector.

Of course, I understand the challenges that many other retail, hospitality and leisure companies are facing. We've already taken significant steps to support businesses, including, as I said, the £4.3 billion of business rates support. But over the last decade, as we all know, consumers have changed their habits. Increasingly, working from home and shopping online. Combined with the pandemic and the increase in energy costs since Russias invasion of Ukraine, these trends have continued to make it harder for high street businesses. So later this year, the government will bring forward a high street strategy, will work with businesses and representative bodies looking at what more the government can do to support our high streets.
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None Portrait Debate: Impact of a new EU-UK customs union and connections with the EU single market on the UK economy
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a UK EU customs union Lord Newby. >> Hello. >> It's a great. >> Pleasure to introduce this
12:33
Lord Newby Portrait Lord Newby (Liberal Democrat)
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>> Pleasure to introduce this debate today. The debate will see a. >> Number of comings.

**** Possible New Speaker ****

Number of comings. And goings. We welcome Lord Doyle Docherty, Lord Pitt-Watson and Baroness Gill and say farewell to Lord Offord for Lord Doyle. The House of Lords must seem like a haven of peace and tranquillity compared to his previous domain in Downing Street, not least in recent days. Baroness Gill brings a welcome additional Sikh voice to your Lordships' House and Lord Coaker. Lord Pitt-Watson can bring a combination of business, academic and charity experience to our proceedings and we look forward to all their speeches today for Lord Offord.

We well as he contemplates pastures new. The wording of today's debate may sound rather dry and technical, but it deals with two of the biggest issues facing the country how to improve growth and prosperity, and what our place in the world should be in the current turbulent times. My Lords, I support the government in making growth a if not the top policy priority. Growth in the UK has stalled over recent years and this has led to a constrained real incomes, weakened public revenues and as a result, higher government borrowing.

The government's sought to stimulate growth through a variety of investment incentives and educational and productivity measures. But these have been patchy and, even if eventually fruitful, will in many cases not yield real benefits for years to come. There are many explanations as to why the UK's growth has been so anaemic in recent years, but there can be no doubt that one of them is Brexit. There are many estimates of the impact of Brexit on the UK economy, but they all point in the same direction.

Probably the best known is the OBR estimate that Brexit will reduce GDP by 4% over a 15 year period, that UK EU trade will fall by 15%, and that Brexit already has had a negative impact on the public
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