Meeting of the Parliament 04 February 2026
Absolutely. Many people are calling for much more radical reform in relation to the transparency issue with the assessors. I have had lots of interaction with the assessors in my part of the world, and at the end of the discussion I am none the wiser than I was at the beginning as to what they are trying to do and how they have come up with the calculations. I have challenged them over the years. I am not qualified to be an assessor, but I would like to understand what they are about, and I simply cannot. Many people, including the likes of John McGlynn, have argued for a much more radical reform of the process, and we should consider that. A pause would give us the opportunity to do so.
In addition to the Barnett consequentials that will, I hope, come through as a result of the UK Government measures, which should go some way to dealing with the problem, we need to look at proposals such as the one that the Conservatives have produced today, which is for 100 per cent relief on properties with a rateable value of under £100,000. Measures such as that need to be considered seriously, because we cannot keep going through this repeated knocking of the sector that happens periodically. We seem to return to this topic as a groundhog day—on a repeated basis.
I will conclude on that point, and I will sum up at the end of the debate.
I move amendment S6M-20653.1, to leave out from “, and further” to end and insert:
“; believes that business rates should support growth and employment and that sudden steep rate hikes threaten the survival of successful businesses; notes that the Northern Ireland Executive has paused its business rates revaluation to avoid large rates increases for many in the hospitality sector, and urges the Scottish Government to pause the implementation of Scotland’s revaluations, open the appeals process immediately, and provide additional relief to businesses using the extra funding expected following the UK Government’s announcement of relief for pubs and music venues.”
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