The past few years have been exceptionally tough for high street businesses, with rising costs and uncertain trading conditions placing many under severe pressure. The Chancellor’s announcement of a limited relief package for pubs is an acknowledgment that the current approach to business rates is causing real harm.
Even after this announcement, the average pub is still set to pay £5,300 more in business rates under Labour. For many local pubs, that increase alone could be the difference between survival and closure. Relief that still leaves businesses worse off overall cannot credibly be described as a solution.
This issue extends well beyond pubs. Other hospitality venues and retail businesses have received no support at all, despite facing the same sharp increase in business rates in just eight weeks’ time. Many are being expected to absorb these higher costs without any additional help, even as margins remain tight and trading conditions continue to be challenging.
Local retailers are facing steep increases that are removing access to relief and putting real pressure on their monthly costs. For many, this is making it harder to keep the doors open. These are the shops that give our high streets their character, provide local jobs and serve our communities day in and day out. They should be supported to thrive, not pushed to the brink by sudden and punitive cost increases.
I am hearing this message clearly from businesses right across Exmouth and Exeter East. Retailers and hospitality operators alike have been in touch to explain how business rates are becoming increasingly difficult to manage alongside energy bills, wages and supply costs. I have challenged the Minister directly on whether this approach is compatible with claims to back small retailers and vibrant high streets.
Short term or emergency relief, when it comes at all, is not the same as meaningful reform. Businesses need certainty and fairness, not last-minute measures that fail to address the underlying problem. A sustainable business rates system must properly reflect the realities facing high street businesses and support them to plan for the future.
Our local economies depend on them, and they deserve long term support that recognises the vital role they play in keeping our town centres alive. That is why I will continue to press the case for permanent business rates relief for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses.
