Agricultural Property Relief and Business Property Relief

Lord Harper Excerpts

Tuesday 6th January 2026 Lords Chamber

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

I am grateful to the noble Lord for his support for what we have announced. I absolutely hear what he says about those trade agreements made by the previous Government and I am more than happy to look further at what he asks about.

[Lord Harper (Con)]

My Lords, my noble friend on the Front Bench made it very clear that farmers had to campaign long and hard to get this necessary change, and it happened at the very last minute. A similar campaign is being waged by the hospitality industry, which faces a near doubling of its business rates over the next three years. Will the Government force it to campaign long and hard and insist on no change before they do the right thing in the end?

[Lord Livermore (Lab)]

The previous revaluation was based on property values during the Covid pandemic. Rateable values were much lower—perhaps artificially lower—at that point. I understand that pubs and other hospitality venues, such as hotels, are now seeing increases as a result of the latest revaluation. We have provided a £4.3 billion support package. Without that, pubs would have faced a 45% increase in total bills for next year. Because of the support that we have put in place, we have got that down to 4%. However, I acknowledge that the revaluation means that pubs and others will struggle with the business rates that are applicable to them. That is why we are working with the sector and will continue to do so. We are very open to discussions with it about other measures, such as more freedom for licensing and the freedom to open for longer.