Plight of Local High Street Businesses Raised in Parliament
Local businesses – including pubs, catering companies and children’s indoor play centres – have been name-checked in Parliament by the area’s two local MPs, as they joined forces to vote against the government’s plan to reduce business rates relief, which will put up costs for many small businesses.
They both expressed disappointment that the government’s measures only amounted to more tinkering, and called for fundamental reform of the ‘broken’ business rates system to make the system fairer.
Daisy Cooper MP cited examples of local pub, Ye Olde Fighting Cocks and local children’s indoor play centre DJ Play as businesses that would struggle with the increase in business rates from next April.
Victoria Collins MP highlighted Oakman Group, a thriving hospitality business started in Tring that may be forced to close multiple premises, and Graze Lounge in Berkhamsted that already chose to shut down their high street premises after struggling with rising costs.
In the debate, Daisy and Victoria called on the government to address the plight of these businesses at the heart of their constituencies.
Daisy accused the former Conservative government of repeatedly kicking the can down the road on business rates reform.
They asked the new government to rethink their planned changes and take business rates reform seriously, particularly given the blow local businesses will also face from other Budget measures including the increased employers’ National Insurance Contributions.
Daisy Cooper, MP for St Albans, said: ‘Many bricks and mortar businesses are barely surviving. Those that are, do so only against the odds. Changes in our trading relationship with Europe, the COVID pandemic. energy prices, the cost of living and the Conservatives’ disastrous mini-budget have all taken their toll. But one measure which has stifled small businesses more than any other has been the broken business rate system.
‘The business rates system is unfair on companies, bad for our local communities and damaging for our national economy. It penalises manufacturers when they invest to become more productive and energy efficient. It leaves pubs and restaurants with disproportionately high tax bills. And it puts brick and mortar shops at an unfair disadvantage compared to online retail giants.’
Citing local examples, Daisy said: ‘The impact of the Government’s changes to business rates will have a massive effect on small businesses in my constituency. The oldest pub in Britain – or so they claim – Ye Olde Fighting Cocks, will see a whopping increase of £30,000 in its business rates alone. The Save St Albans Pubs campaign says that even an average pub in St Albans, with a rateable value of £100,000, will face an additional £19,000 in its business rates bill from April. If we assume that an average pub makes 30p profit per pint, each of those pubs would need to sell an extra 60,000 pints a year, or almost 1,200 pints extra a week – and that is before factoring in the increase in national insurance contributions.
‘Other low-margin, large-premises businesses, such as children’s soft play activity centres, will also lose out under these changes. DJ’s Play runs much-loved indoor play centres across Hertfordshire, which exist in large warehouse-style premises. The buildings are large, but the profit margins are not. DJ’s Play and many others like it provide a valuable and enriching educational experience for children, but they too will struggle to keep their heads above water.
‘The government say that they want growth, and so do we, but these business rates changes will stifle the growth of small businesses and high streets at a time when we should be unleashing it. We urge Ministers to think again.’
Victoria Collins, MP for Harpenden and Berkhamsted, said: ”I am tired of us not taking support for small businesses seriously and making a change. This government had an opportunity to make a difference, but they have squandered an opportunity when it comes to business rates reform.
‘I see the impact on businesses in my high streets. I have the privilege of representing several magnificent high streets, in Tring, Berkhamsted, Harpenden, Wheathampstead and Redbourn, but businesses there are struggling yet again.
‘Michelle from Graze Life told me time and again about the impact the cost of business rates had on her business; eventually, she closed her high street premises down.
‘I spoke to Peter from the Oakman Group, a booming business that started in Tring in 2007. The company is a rising star and has received prizes for being one of the best places to work for employees, but Peter now says it is on the edge of extinction. He employs 1,200 people but he says the Budget, including business rates changes, will have an impact of up to £2 million on his business, so he will have to make tough decisions on the future of the business.
‘Another business owner in Tring said that they would love to open on the High Street but they just cannot afford it. The broken business rates system is affecting our businesses, the people who work there and our communities, which are losing out on fantastic local businesses.’
The Liberal Democrats tabled a Reasoned Amendment – a parliamentary motion objecting to the Bill. Whilst it was unfortunately not called for a vote, both Daisy and Victoria voted against the Bill in its entirety.
This continued Daisy’s long-standing campaign against the broken business rates system, which she has raised on a number of occasions with this government and the Conservative government before it. Ahead of the Budget, Daisy called on the Chancellor to fundamentally reform business rates, ending them by April 2026.
Victoria has also held the government to account on improving support for local businesses since her election, and immediately after the Budget she emphasised the need for the government to reform the unfair business rates system to protect much-loved local businesses.