Asked by: Mike Reader (Labour - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what steps his Department is taking to help support businesses to compete with direct-to-consumer online retailers that are based offshore.
Answered by Gareth Thomas - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Business and Trade)
We intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, including those on the high street, from 2026-27. This tax cut must be sustainably funded, and so we intend to apply a higher rate from 2026-27 on the most valuable properties - those with a Rateable Value of £500,000 and above. These represent less than one per cent of all properties, but include the majority of large distribution warehouses, including those used by online giants.
Ahead of these changes being made, we have prevented RHL relief from ending in April 2025 by extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business and frozen the small business multiplier.
We are also working with businesses to understand their barriers to growth and High Streets will be a key pillar of our forthcoming Small Business Strategy.
Asked by: Mike Reader (Labour - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what (a) mechanism and (b) resources his Department is allocating to (i) monitor, (ii) evaluate and (iii) manage (A) passive and (B) active regulatory divergence between the UK and EU to minimise the impact on UK (1) businesses and (2) consumers.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
This Government continues to follow EU regulatory developments with interest, engaging with the EU on key regulatory developments via TCA structures. I also recognise the importance of maintaining an effective dialogue with UK industry leaders and civil society to understand the passive impacts.
DBT’s Assimilated Law Dashboard and Report captures changes to UK legislation inherited from the EU which will create active UK-EU divergence. These are updated biannually per requirements of the Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Act 2023.
Government departments proposing regulatory reform consider the impact of those changes through impact assessments or proportionate analysis.
Asked by: Mike Reader (Labour - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he plans to include measures to grow imports in the forthcoming trade strategy.
Answered by Douglas Alexander - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)
The Trade Strategy will support businesses trade and drive economic growth. Further details on this will be published in due course.
Asked by: Mike Reader (Labour - Northampton South)
Question to the Department for Business and Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, whether he will include measures to strengthen the enablers of growth in the logistics sector and the infrastructure it uses in the forthcoming industrial strategy.
Answered by Sarah Jones - Minister of State (Department for Energy Security and Net Zero)
Our Strategy is unreservedly pro-business, engaging on complex issues that are barriers to investment, like skills, recruitment of international talent, data, R&D, technology adoption, access to finance, competition, regulation, energy prices, grid connections, infrastructure, and planning – all through the lens of promoting investment.
Our Industrial Strategy will channel support to eight growth-driving sectors – those in which the UK excels today and will excel tomorrow, and which present the greatest opportunity for output and productivity growth over the long-term.
We will also look across the growth-driving sectors, progressing value chain analysis to identify ‘foundational’ sectors which are critical to a growth-driving sector’s value chain.