Gregory Stafford

Gregory Stafford

Conservative — Farnham and Bordon

Speaking in the House of Commons on 3 February 2026

Debate

Taxation: Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

Contribution

I entirely agree with my hon. Friend. Like him, I have held roundtables with hospitality businesses, which are saying the same thing as others: they want to see a cut in business rates. The Conservative pledge to entirely scrap business rates for businesses with bills under £110,000 is the right step and would be welcomed by business. I hope the Minister will take up that idea; good ideas should be taken up by the Government, but they seem to have a problem with doing that. In mentioning business rates, my hon. Friend reminds me that the Labour party manifesto—which I am sure you read, Mr Dowd—pledged that “Labour will replace the business rates system, so we can raise the same revenue but in a fairer way.” That clearly has not happened, because businesses are being hammered.

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