Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will bring forward proposals to extend (a) business rates relief and (b) the reduced 5 per cent rate of VAT.

Retail, hospitality and leisure businesses have paid no business rates for 15 months on their eligible properties. From 1 July, eligible premises will continue to benefit from a 66% capped relief as restrictions ease, until the end of March 2022. This means that over 90% of eligible businesses will receive the equivalent of a 75% reduction in their business rates bill across the financial year.

Budget 2021 also announced the extension of the temporary reduced rate of VAT (5%) for the tourism and hospitality sector. The relief will now end on 30 September 2021. On 1 October 2021, a new reduced rate of 12.5% will be introduced for these goods and services to help businesses manage the transition back to the standard rate. The new rate will end on 31 March 2022.

This relief has cost over £7 billion and has helped support the cash flow and viability of 150,000 businesses and protect over 2.4 million jobs. While the Government keeps all taxes under review, there are no plans to extend the reduced rate of VAT further.