Draft Non-Domestic Rating (Levy and Safety Net) (Amendment) Regulations 2022

Mike Amesbury Excerpts

Tuesday 1st February 2022 General Committees

[Mike Amesbury (Weaver Vale) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Hosie. I thank the Minister for his introductory remarks.

The technical amendments relate to the business rates retention scheme. Funding arrangements are changed in four authorities, as the Minister outlined, and provisions are made in terms of 100% business rates, capturing some of our combined authorities. I should declare that I have vested interest in one them, as my constituency covers it. The Opposition will not oppose those technical amendments, which introduce sensible arrangements for the future, but I should like to refer to some broader issues relating to business rates that affect all of us in our communities, high streets and constituencies.

Our high street businesses enrich lives, provide a centre for our communities—a real sense of place—and employ 2.8 million people nationwide. They play a fundamental role in the national economy. But such businesses have also faced huge adversity—we have all experienced that—in the past two years. The Minister referred to the covid support targeted at local authorities, which was welcomed. The former Secretary of State, the right hon. Member for Newark (Robert Jenrick), and the Chancellor said that they would do whatever it took to support businesses, but it has not quite been that story. Funding has been welcome at a time of national and international crisis, but the problem associated with high streets and business rates predate the pandemic.

Our business rates system is outdated and regressive. It penalises shops in our high streets while benefiting online giants. It punishes investment and entrepreneurship, and certainly the green economy. In a letter from 42 trade bodies to the Chancellor last year, that system was described as being “uncompetitive and unfair”. That tax hits businesses before they make a single sale, a penny or a pound through the tills, let alone turn a profit. Thanks to the pandemic, it is more important than ever to secure the future for our high streets and towns. I hope that the White Paper—we trust it is with us any time soon this year—alludes to that and maps out a strong narrative.

[The Chair]

Order. I am sure that high streets are important to all of us, but the terms of the statutory instrument are very, very narrow, so if the hon. Gentleman could bring his remarks back to it, that would be helpful.

[Mike Amesbury]

I note your intervention, Mr Hosie.

The business rates system is fundamentally broken. The SI refers to some technical arrangements that build, drip, drip, on some reforms. It is not radical or bold, nor is it what is required by our high streets to make sure that they thrive, together with the industry and commerce that they support. We need something that relates to income through the door, and which is fair and captures land values rather than just being about bricks and mortar. We also need something to create a level playing field between the online sector and the physical bricks and mortar.

I have a couple of questions about previous promises to extend the capture of 75% of business rates to local authorities up and down the land. We are still waiting for progress on that. I hope that will be referred to in the financial settlement to be announced some time next week, or perhaps the White Paper will allude to it. The Government have spoken about reforming the business rates system and conducted a review, but progress has been timid and piecemeal. I hope that the Government implement a fundamental review to ensure that our communities and high streets thrive.