Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support high streets in South Holland and The Deepings constituency.

The Government is backing high streets including those in South Holland and The Deepings through a significant package of support. All retail, hospitality and leisure properties in England, including hotels, will see their business rates either frozen in real terms, reduced, or cut to zero.

The package includes, from 1 April 2027:

• a two-year real-terms freeze for all retail, hospitality and leisure properties to cap bill increases at inflation; and
• removing a further 70,000 smaller properties from business rates, meaning half of all RHL properties will now pay no business rates at all.

Alongside this tax support, the Government has published our plan for ‘Hope on the High Street’, which will help put high streets back under local control, where local leaders can drive the change their communities want to see. We backed this commitment with £210m to transform derelict buildings into the new anchors of our high streets and create resilient community-owned businesses and institutions. This includes £65 million to help communities protect valued local assets and £10 million to expand High Street Rental Auctions, which is available to eligible local authorities across England to help bring persistently empty commercial properties back into productive use.