Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will carry out a public consultation on removing (a) racehorse training yards and (b) racecourses from the Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure business rate relief scheme.

The Government is introducing new permanently lower business rates tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure (RHL) properties with rateable values below £500,000.

On 16 October 2025, the Government published legislation and accompanying guidance detailing the eligibility criteria for the new multipliers. To ensure the new tax rates are appropriately targeted, only properties that are wholly or mainly used for providing RHL activity (as defined in legislation) to visiting members of the public are eligible for the new multipliers. This is in line with the eligibility criteria for the current RHL business rates relief, and includes racecourses and racehorse training grounds with retable values below £500,000 that are open to members of the public. Further details on what is meant by “visiting members of the public” can be found online here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/business-rates-multipliers-qualifying-retail-hospitality-or-leisure.

As the Government has not removed racehorse training yards and racecourses from being eligible for RHL business rates support, the Government does not intend to public a consultation on this.