Business Rates

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Jenny Riddell-Carpenter (Suffolk Coastal) (Lab)]

I thank the Minister for his statement, and I give my personal thanks to the Members on both sides of the House who have been advocating very strongly with him, including my hon. Friends the Members for Redditch (Chris Bloore), for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi) and for Isle of Wight West (Mr Quigley). I also thank the businesses and, in particular, the pubs in my constituency: the Anchor at Walberswick, the Froize Inn, Deben Inns, and many, many more. I welcome today’s announcement, but we can do more and go further, including in the strategy, to look at lowering VAT for hospitality and lowering the alcohol duty, which could perhaps be offset by a higher alcohol duty in supermarkets.

[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.