{"id":356026,"date":"2026-01-06T23:41:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/356026\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T23:41:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:41:16","slug":"cabinet-revolt-brewing-over-business-rates-hike-as-hospitality-warned-not-to-protest-politics-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/356026\/","title":{"rendered":"Cabinet revolt brewing over business rates hike – as hospitality warned not to protest | Politics News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A cabinet revolt is brewing over the upcoming business rates increase – as hospitality has been warned not to protest, Sky News can reveal.<\/p>\n

There is “ongoing cabinet-level opposition” to the hike, and ministers are “not happy about it”, deputy political editor Sam Coates revealed on the Politics at Sam and Anne’s podcast.<\/p>\n

Politics latest updates<\/a><\/p>\n

In November’s budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves<\/a> announced a shake-up to how business rates are calculated, with a new band for retail, hospitality and leisure – bringing an end to the relief scheme first introduced in 2020 during the pandemic.<\/p>\n

The sector argues the new business rates, while lower than before COVID, do not go far enough.<\/p>\n

They say because the tax is based on rateable property values (an official estimate of a commercial property’s annual rental value), they are disproportionately affected because they have physical stores, restaurants and pubs – unlike online giants.<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\udc49Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne’s on your podcast app\ud83d\udc48<\/a><\/p>\n

Sir Keir Starmer has acknowledged the industry will struggle with the new rates, telling LBC this week: “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

He said the government is putting transitional relief in place and they are looking at what else they can do, such as “licensing freedoms”.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Chef Tom Kerridge, who has four gastropubs, said his rateable values at The Coach in Marlow had risen 100% from \u00a350,000 to \u00a3106,000, which he said is “unsustainable”.<\/p>\n

Several pubs have already barred Labour MPs in protest at the changes.<\/p>\n

However, Sky News understands the government has been warning businesses not to protest over the changes if they want to get any concessions.<\/p>\n

Read more:
Reeves’ budget tax rises ‘a pub killer’, say landlords<\/a>
Rules-based system ‘disintegrating before our eyes’<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Share<\/p>\n

\n Why are pubs banning Labour MPs?<\/p>\n

An industry insider said the government has been telling the business community if they want help, then they should take a cue from farmers, who were given a reprieve just before Christmas when the government raised the threshold for inheritance tax<\/a> from \u00a31m to \u00a32.5m.<\/p>\n

But, the industry insider said the government has been telling them farmers were “good, fair negotiators and didn’t make a big campaign of it, which is why they got what they wanted”.<\/p>\n

The messaging appears confusing as farmers carried out protests over many months, with tractors blocking Whitehall becoming commonplace.<\/p>\n

\"Farmers<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Farmers lining Westminster with tractors became commonplace in 2025. Pic: Reuters<\/p>\n

Sam Coates said: “Anybody who spent a second in Whitehall looking at those tractors trundling down and the mass campaign knows that that’s just utter nonsense.<\/p>\n

“What’s really happening here is, despite the facts being completely untrue, this is government basically threatening the industry.<\/p>\n

“The implication, I don’t know which Whitehall department it is, but the implication quite clearly is ‘stop being so aggressive with your briefing if you want anything at all for your industry’.<\/p>\n

“Now that doesn’t smack of a government coming at things from a position of strength to my mind.”<\/p>\n

\"Michelin-starred<\/p>\n

Image:
\n Michelin-starred chef Tom Kerridge said the rise is “unsustainable”<\/p>\n

The Valuation Office Agency, which provides the government with property valuations, has said an increase in rateable value does not necessarily mean a similar rise in business rates, as there is transitional relief available, including:<\/p>\n

\u2022 A \u00a33.2bn transitional relief scheme to support the largest ratepayers, including airports and hospitality<\/p>\n

\u2022 \u00a3500m to help the smallest businesses<\/p>\n

\u2022 A \u00a31.3bn expansion of the Supporting Small Business scheme for those who were eligible for retail, hospitality and leisure relief as they transition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A cabinet revolt is brewing over the upcoming business rates increase – as hospitality has been warned not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356027,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-356026","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\/356026","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=356026"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/356026\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=356026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=356026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=356026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}