Member

The Covid era retail, hospitality and leisure relief was introduced on a temporary basis in 2020, recognising the exceptional circumstances of the time. As the noble Baroness will know, continuing it would cost around £1.7 billion per year. Without this Government having intervened, the relief would have ended entirely in April last year, creating a cliff edge for businesses. Instead, the Government decided to provide a 40% relief to retail, hospitality and leisure properties up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business in 2025-26, ahead of permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties for this year. The noble Baroness also knows that increases for large businesses with rateable values over £500,000 are necessary to reduce permanently those for smaller businesses. I note that she supported the smaller business rates but opposed the money to fund that through the higher rates. That is a fairly standard response from her and her party when it comes to taxation measures.