L

Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)

Speaking in the House of Lords on 16 September 2026

Debate

Business Rates Avoidance Schemes

Contribution

My noble friend raises an important point on tax avoidance with business rates. There has been coverage of some of the most egregious instances of business rate avoidance over recent years, including the use of snail farms and prayer rooms. A recent court case, which my noble friend referred to, has made it significantly more difficult for the most common avoidance schemes to be effective. This was a case brought by the City of London; the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the City of London, and as a result the attempt to secure repeated periods of empty property relief using box shifting failed. The ruling has closed down this particular avoidance scheme, and as a result local authorities can withdraw empty property relief if they are satisfied that a scheme in their area falls within the ruling.

More from Lord Wilson of Sedgefield (Lab)

Other recent Hansard contributions by the same speaker.

About Hansard

Hansard is the official verbatim record of proceedings in the UK Parliament. Every word spoken in the Commons and Lords is recorded and published — this page is a single contribution from that record.