Clause 63 - Small business relief
Local Government Bill
4:00 pm
Mr David Borrow (South Ribble, Labour)
I should preface my remarks by saying that I shall not oppose the amendments.
Assistance for small businesses is crucial. However, I have spent more than 20 years dealing with rating valuation, listened to many ratings surveyors, read
many books and attended many lectures in which the link between rates payable and rent payable has been part of the fabric of the discussion. The argument that increasing rates reduces rent and vice versa has been part of the culture and the understanding of the rating world for as long as I have been involved in it, which is since the mid-1970s.
I am concerned that, in the long term, the clauses will help not small businesses but landlords, by allowing them to increase their rents. The hon. Member for Kingston and Surbiton makes his points well. Many of the submissions that I have seen argue that we should be making such proposals, but the problem for small businesses is that they pay high rents in relation to the turnover of the business compared with large businesses in large business premises. Rates relate directly to the rents that are paid, which means that small businesses end up paying relatively high rates compared with large businesses.