Meeting of the Parliament 25 February 2026 [Draft]
Yesterday, at a rural leadership meeting, we heard from a hotelier on the west coast. They are doing extremely well, with bookings all year round, but after the increase in business rates, hardly anything is left by way of profit, and it is barely worth continuing. Businesses will close. Is it not the case, as I have just discovered in the past few days, that the estimates on which the Government relies for the amount of money that it will raise from its current proposals contain no allowance whatsoever for the closure of businesses on any significant scale? If that approach is wrong, and businesses close, surely the budget will end up with less money being brought in than would be if the business rates were set at a fair and affordable level. Is that not only wrong but financially reckless and counterproductive?