At Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), St Albans MP, Anne Main, raised the issue of business rates and urged the PM to ‘get a move on’ with reform.

Speaking in the House of Commons Chamber, Anne said ‘This is something that came across loud and clear over the election period in St Albans. My businesses want assistance with this. Can I ask the Prime Minister, through his good offices, to get the Chancellor to get a move on, as this is so important for good business across the country?’

Before the Budget in March, Anne wrote a letter to the Chancellor making a ‘plea for hard-pressed business owners in St Albans.’

In the letter, Anne said that she understood that the government had already taken steps to help small businesses, but, ‘[b]ecause St Albans is a high-value property area, rateable values are often extremely high and it is crippling local businesses. Constituents and business owners regularly complain that despite shops and cafes being busy, their overheads are outstripping their takings.’

Speaking after the PMQs, the St Albans MP said that ‘we need to find a solution that doesn’t kill off the high-street, maintains its character, and improves the competitiveness or our local shops.’

FULL TEXT:

Mrs Anne Main (St Albans) (Con): I was pleased to hear the announcement in our manifesto that there would be a review of business rates. This is something that came across loud and clear over the election period in St Albans. My businesses want assistance with this. Can I ask the Prime Minister, through his good offices, to get the Chancellor to get a move on, as this is so important for good business across the country?

The Prime Minister: The Chancellor will have heard my hon. Friend’s instructions loud and clear. We do want to get on with this review of business rates. Like all Members, my hon. Friend and I will have listened to the complaints of high street stores that sometimes feel they face unfair competition from internet retailers who do not face the same sort of business rates. Let me give this warning, however. Business rates raise a large amount of revenue—revenue that is necessary—and it will not be possible to come up with a review that will satisfy everybody.

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