Treasury written question – answered at on 10 September 2025.
Adam Dance
Liberal Democrat, Yeovil
To ask the Chancellor of the exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of the level of (a) Value Added Tax rates and (b) business rates on the recovery of hospitality businesses in rural areas in Yeovil Constituency.
Dan Tomlinson
The Exchequer Secretary
The Government recognises the significant contribution made by hospitality and tourism businesses, including those in rural areas, to economic growth and social life in the UK.
To deliver our manifesto pledge, from 2026/27, we intend to introduce permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure (RHL) properties, including hotels, with rateable values below £500,000. This permanent tax cut will ensure that they benefit from much-needed certainty and support.
Ahead of these new multipliers being introduced, the Government recognises that businesses will need support in 2025/26. As such, we prevented the current RHL relief from ending in April 2025, extending it for one year at 40 per cent up to a cash cap of £110,000 per business, and we froze the small business multiplier.
When the new, permanently lower tax rates are set at Budget 2025, the Treasury intends to publish analysis of the effects of the new multiplier arrangements.
VAT is a broad-based tax on consumption, and the 20 per cent standard rate applies to most goods and services. The UK’s VAT rate of 20 per cent is close to the OECD average of 19.3 per cent.
At £90,000, the UK has a higher VAT registration threshold than any EU country and the joint highest in the OECD. This keeps the Majority of businesses out of the VAT regime altogether.
Yes0 people think so
No0 people think not
Would you like to ask a question like this yourself? Use our Freedom of Information site.
The chancellor of the exchequer is the government's chief financial minister and as such is responsible for raising government revenue through taxation or borrowing and for controlling overall government spending.
The chancellor's plans for the economy are delivered to the House of Commons every year in the Budget speech.
The chancellor is the most senior figure at the Treasury, even though the prime minister holds an additional title of 'First Lord of the Treasury'. He normally resides at Number 11 Downing Street.
In a general election, each Constituency chooses an MP to represent them. MPs have a responsibility to represnt the views of the Constituency in the House of Commons. There are 650 Constituencies, and thus 650 MPs. A citizen of a Constituency is known as a Constituent
The term "majority" is used in two ways in Parliament. Firstly a Government cannot operate effectively unless it can command a majority in the House of Commons - a majority means winning more than 50% of the votes in a division. Should a Government fail to hold the confidence of the House, it has to hold a General Election. Secondly the term can also be used in an election, where it refers to the margin which the candidate with the most votes has over the candidate coming second. To win a seat a candidate need only have a majority of 1.
