Business Rates

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Tuesday 27th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Tomlinson]

Over and over again, Conservative Members profess to be paragons of fiscal virtue, yet stand up in this place and say they want to cut taxation, which in effect means more and more borrowing. We have in the past seen the problems caused by Conservative Governments who let borrowing run out of control, cause interest rates to surge for families in our constituencies, send our economy to the dogs and harm living standards. We will not stand for that—we will not make the mistakes they made—and we will come forward with proportionate changes that support businesses, but that make sure we can continue to keep our public finances on a sustainable path.

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

York is a difficult place in which to trade, and with two thirds of businesses being independents, many will not get the relief the Minister has announced today. I sent through a paper with a spreadsheet of every business in the business improvement district showing that this just is not meeting their needs of those businesses, which will close. Will the Minister look at that detail, and ensure that resilience and support are built in, because York has a very strong retail reputation, but it is about to be challenged unless more help comes its way?