Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has had discussions with the Secretary of State for Business and Trade on the impact of increased business rates on the viability of high street businesses in market towns.

We are creating a fairer business rates system that protects the high street, supports investment, and is fit for the 21st century.

To deliver our manifesto pledge, from 2026-27, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for high street retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000. This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support.

This tax cut must be sustainably funded, and so, from 2026-27, we intend to introduce a higher rate on the most valuable properties – those with Rateable Values of £500,000 and above. These represent less than one per cent of all properties, but cover the majority of large distribution warehouses, including those used by online giants.

Ahead of these changes being made, the Government recognises that businesses will need support in 2025-26. As such, we have prevented the current RHL relief from ending in April 2025, extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and we have frozen the small business multiplier.

When the new, permanently lower tax rates are set at Autumn Budget 2025, the Treasury intends to publish analysis of the effects of the new multiplier arrangements.