Comment

With Nick Bourne AM

Over the Christmas period and beyond, I have continued to receive representations from individual small business operators, Ceredigion community councils, and other business organisations who are still very concerned about the unacceptably high business rates hike due to come in soon.

Whilst no doubt some will welcome the new Local Government Minister’s announcement to slightly increase the small business rate relief bands, it does not alter the fact that many businesses will still face massive increases in their bills on 1 April.

Unfortunately, because the announced increase in relief was not made to the assembly plenary in the chamber before the assembly recess period, opposition parties were left without a proper opportunity to cross-question the Minister or hold any further debate on the matter. Finally, after I raised questions with the First Minister, made a point of order to the presiding officer and three further requests to the leader of the house for a statement on the matter, some action has now been taken. I guess half a loaf is better than none!

The Welsh Conservative Group believes the relief being offered does not go far enough. We stated last March that if we were in government we would scrap or cut the level of business rates for up to 90,000 firms across the country. Business rates are not just some kind of incidental tax - they are the most significant fiscal lever under the Welsh Government’s control. In Wales, it is important that we do not become ‘blind’ to the other models of good practice adopted in the UK, such as the measures of assistance which have been offered to businesses in England and Scotland. Interestingly, in Northern Ireland, revaluation was postponed when the government recognised that doing this against the backdrop of the worst recession to hit the country since World War II would be devastating. We would do similarly for at least a year and then review the position to see if the economy is recovering.

While most agree that the best way to encourage economic growth in Wales is to nurture indigenous business, it is counter-productive to then introduce the biggest tax hike small businesses have seen in five years - at a time when every penny counts towards survival. For many small businesses, which make vital contributions to the local economy, business rates represent a fixed cost to be paid irrespective of success. An increase of a few thousand pounds may not seem much to those setting the charges, but it could be the difference between life or death for our local small businesses.