Business Rates

Sarah Bool Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Tomlinson]

This year, we are three years on from the changes in alcohol duty that the last Government implemented. I am not sure whether they adopted the same policy position, but we made it clear that it would be reviewed after three years. As part of that usual process, we will be reviewing the reforms that were made in 2023. If my hon. Friend or other Members want to write to me about changes that they think should be made, I will, of course, be happy to receive that correspondence.

[Sarah Bool (South Northamptonshire) (Con)]

Labour’s response to high street struggles is a strategy later this year to look at

“what more the Government can do to support our high streets.”

Well, I will save them the trouble. They should adopt the Conservatives’ plan, and scrap business rates on those high streets.

[Dan Tomlinson]

I am not sure what the question was, but the Government have set out a plan that is fair and reasonable and does not engage with the fantasy economics that Opposition Members keep peddling. They still have Liz Truss in their party, and it shows, because instead of having a sensible business rates policy that is affordable and works for the long term, they have made-up spending cuts and pretend that they could afford to abolish a tax altogether. We know that that will not work. We know that they will not deliver it, not least because they had 14 years to make changes of that magnitude and never even bothered.