Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of her proposals for reducing business rates for shops, pubs and leisure businesses on SMEs in North East Somerset and Hanham constituency.

From April 2026, the Government intends to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000. This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support.

The rates for these new business rate multipliers will be set at Budget 2025 so that the Government can take into account the upcoming revaluation outcomes as well as the economic and fiscal context.

Ahead of these changes being made, we have prevented RHL relief from ending in April 2025 by extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and frozen the small business multiplier.

When the new multipliers are set at Budget 2025, HM Treasury intends to publish overall analysis of the effects of the new multiplier arrangements.