{"id":354104,"date":"2026-01-05T22:50:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T22:50:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/354104\/"},"modified":"2026-01-05T22:50:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T22:50:19","slug":"sir-keir-starmer-tells-lbc-hes-looking-at-further-support-for-pubs-firms-hit-by-higher-business-rates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/354104\/","title":{"rendered":"Sir Keir Starmer tells LBC he’s looking at ‘further support’ for pubs & firms hit by higher business rates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir Keir Starmer has told LBC\u00a0that he’s looking at “further support” for firms hit by higher business rates – including licencing laws for pubs.<\/p>\n

A revaluation means many – including pubs, bars and restaurants – are facing much higher bills from April.<\/p>\n

They faced much lower rates during the Covid pandemic in a bid to help them survive.<\/p>\n

But some have warned they may be forced to close as a result of them increasing again.<\/p>\n

The prime minister’s told us that discussions with the hospitality industry are ongoing.<\/p>\n

He said: “Obviously, what’s happened is there were reductions in place during covid which were always going to be unwound. <\/p>\n

“At some point, the overall rates are going to be lower. But I accept that because of revaluation, that means that some will have their bills going up. <\/p>\n

“We’re putting in place transitional relief. <\/p>\n

“We’re talking to the sector, particularly hospitality and pubs, about what further support we can put in, whether that’s licencing freedoms or other measures. <\/p>\n

“We want to talk to the sector. I want to keep working with them to make sure we can work this through.\u201d<\/p>\n

Several pubs have already barred Labour MPs in protest at business rate changes – in a bid to force the Government to think again.<\/p>\n

Labour MP Rachael Maskell told LBC last week that the high street will \u201ccollapse\u201d without changes to an \u201cexcruciating\u201d rise in business rates.<\/a><\/p>\n

The MP for York Central said she is “pleading with the government” to “bring around proper reform of business rates”.<\/p>\n

Rachael Maskell told LBC: “I look across York and it is excruciating the rises which people will see to their business rates.<\/p>\n

“The problem has been that we’ve seen the revaluation coming at the same time and that’s just pushed people over the line and certainly to the edge.”<\/p>\n

She added: “The business community have got many, many ideas of how that can be done in a fair and proportionate way, but certainly not one that puts such demands on businesses that traders are saying that their doors will not be able to sustain this increase.”<\/p>\n

In the Autumn Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed that a new business rates system will be introduced from the next financial year.<\/p>\n

This will see rates multipliers lowered for retail, hospitality and leisure firms \u2013 funded by higher rates on larger commercial properties, including warehouses.<\/p>\n

It also means that firms with larger premises, like storage companies and supermarkets, will be hit with a property tax rise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Keir Starmer has told LBC\u00a0that he’s looking at “further support” for firms hit by higher business rates…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":354105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-354104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/354105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}