Oral Answers to Questions

Antonia Bance Excerpts

Tuesday 28th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury (Dan Tomlinson)]

On business rates, the hon. Member will know that this Government inherited the plans that were set in train for an independent revaluation of properties to take place for the first time since the pandemic. It would not have been the right thing to do to delay that independent revaluation for those businesses who have seen their rates fall since the pandemic, so we went ahead with it, and we then put in £4.3 billion of support to limit the increases in bills that businesses would pay. Of course we keep all taxes under review, but we have for the first time put in a differential within the business rates system so that high street businesses face a lower tax rate—a lower multiplier—than the largest online giants.

[Antonia Bance (Tipton and Wednesbury) (Lab)]

T4. We now know what was going on in the economy before the attack on Iran. Growth was up. Unemployment was down. Borrowing was lower than forecast. The Chancellor took the right decisions and it was working. Does my right hon. Friend agree that families and businesses should know that, when times are tough, it is Trumpflation that is to blame?

[Rachel Reeves]

I thank my hon. Friend for that question. While other parties—specifically Reform and the Conservatives—wanted us to enter this war, we stayed out of it, and are working to de-escalate the conflict and reopen the strait of Hormuz. The economy was growing, interest rates were coming down and inflation was falling. As a result, every month since I have become Chancellor, wages have risen by more than inflation, easing the cost of living pressures that the previous Government oversaw.