Oral Answers to Questions

Kevin Bonavia Excerpts

Tuesday 9th December 2025 Commons Chamber

[Dan Tomlinson]

We have set out our plans to reduce the multipliers for retail, hospitality and leisure properties, which is a rebalancing in the system. It means that those businesses—particularly the smallest RHL properties—face the lowest tax rate in the system since 1991. At the same time, there is—[Interruption.] The hon. Lady shakes her head, but the tax rate is the lowest it has been since 1991. At the same time, there has been an unwinding of the reduction in values going into the pandemic, and because we are seeing a recovery and businesses are bouncing back, and their properties are worth more, there has been an increase in the values. We are spending £2 billion this year to cap those increases at either 5% or 15% for many of those businesses up and down the country.

[Kevin Bonavia (Stevenage) (Lab)]

7. What fiscal steps she is taking with Cabinet colleagues to reduce costs for commuters.

[The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Rachel Reeves)]

Transport costs represent 14% of household spending, so the Government took decisive action in the Budget to freeze all regulated rail fares in England for one year from March 2026—the first time that has happened in 30 years.

[Kevin Bonavia]

I thank the Chancellor and the Transport Secretary for freezing rail fares next month, which will help to ease commuting costs, especially for my constituents who use Stevenage and Knebworth stations. However, affordability alone is only part of the railway jigsaw; regeneration schemes like Stevenage station gateway, supported by the Government’s towns fund, are part of a wider £1 billion regeneration programme for our town and provide a real opportunity to modernise transport hubs and improve connectivity, helping commuters get to work more easily. Will my right hon. Friend ensure that infrastructure investment for projects like the station gateway are prioritised, so that commuters can get to work—

[Rachel Reeves]

rose—