𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Rachel Reeves’s partial U-turn on support for pubs has been branded “too little and far too late”.

The Treasury caved to fury on Tuesday by announcing pubs and music venues will get 15% off their business rates bills from April as part of a fresh support package.

But industry bosses from hotels, restaurants and cafes slammed the Government because they will not receive extra help despite their own concerns over soaring tax bills.

Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: “This partial U-turn is far too little and far too late. It is a sticking plaster which delays the pain for a few, while most businesses despair as they see their bills continue to skyrocket.

“Our high streets need permanently lower business rates – not just for pubs, but for the shops and hospitality venues that give our high streets life.

“These tax rises are a political choice, driven by higher welfare spending, and they are destroying businesses and jobs across the country. It doesn’t have to be this way.”

Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson told the Commons that the property tax bills for pubs and music venues in England will be reduced by 15% in 2026/27 and then be “frozen in real terms” for the next two years.

He added that the support will be worth £1,650 for the average pub next year.

Mr Tomlinson said: “This decision will mean that the amount of business rates paid by the pub sector as a whole will be lower in 2028/29.

“It will also apply to music venues too. Many are valued as pubs and it would not be right to draw the line.”

The Treasury’s intervention comes after an intensifying backlash from industry bosses and MPs over impending tax increases.

Andrew Goodacre, CEO of the British Independent Retailers Association (Bira), said the Chancellor failed to listen to independent retailers who face identical pressures to pubs.

He described the support package as “yet another half-baked u-turn” that benefits pubs while small retailers are “being flushed down the u-bend”.

Mr Goodacre added: “This is a poor decision based on politics rather than what is good to the local economy.”

“The Chancellor has not listened. She says that ‘we need pubs and high streets to thrive’. If she really believed and understood that comment, then we would be seeing similar support for the rest of the high streets and not just a chosen few businesses – many of which are not even on high streets.”

He said promises of yet another high streets strategy were “empty words” for the thousands of independent retailers facing sharp rises in their rates bills over the next three years.

He added: “The Treasury states that pubs need support having lost 7,000 since 2010.

“We have lost 17,000 independent shops in 2024 and are expecting a similar number when the figures are announced for 2025.”

Earlier this week, Revolution bars group The Revel Collective said they were filing to appoint administrators in the face of weak consumer confidence and higher costs.

A number of other hospitality groups, such as TGI Fridays UK and Leon, have also entered insolvency in recent months.

Labour MP Stella Creasy suggested parents of young children will have nowhere to go except pubs unless the Government extends its relief package to other hospitality venues.

She urged ministers to revisit the exclusion of cafes, soft plays and community centres from its plans, claiming it could lead to their closure.

Labour former minister Jim McMahon also argued the wider hospitality industry “could and should have” benefited from the support announced on Tuesday.

Labour MP Rachael Maskell urged the Government to introduce support for independent shops, warning businesses in the historic city of York would shut without it.

She said: “York is a difficult place to trade with two-thirds independents in York, many of them are not going to get the relief which the minister has announced today.”

Mr Tomlinson pointed to the “small business rates relief in place, a relief that we’re extending to support businesses that could extend to a second premises”.

Tina McKenzie, Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) policy chair, warned the Government has missed a “critical” chance to back struggling high street businesses.

She added: “Although this news will bring a welcome, temporary reprieve for pub and music venue owners, small firms across the rest of the hospitality, leisure and retail sectors – from your local greengrocer, hairdresser and café to the nail bar or florist – will be incredibly disappointed to not have been thrown any type of lifeline. It’s worrying that the Government repeatedly fails to recognise the difficulty that these businesses are in.

“With more cost pressures due to hit in April alongside the rates rise – from energy standing charges to employment costs – this situation is becoming unsustainable for many. Some are having to put the brakes on expanding and developing their business, while others are being forced to lay off staff or even close their doors for good. The Treasury must look again at the Spring Forecast to provide substantial help for these struggling small firms.”

Meanwhile Dame Meg Hillier, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons Treasury Committee, pressed the Government on when “significant change” to the business rates system, as promised in Labour’s manifesto, would come forward.

Mr Tomlinson said last year’s budget introduced “a significant rebalancing with the largest businesses having a tax rate multiplier that’s 33% higher than the typical businesses on the high street”.