Dan Tomlinson MP: speeches

Speeches

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  We are keen to hear from businesses, large and small, about what more the Government can do to support high streets. We want to engage on lots of issues affecting high streets, including planning, licensing and crime, and the direct investment that we can make in our communities. There is a lot to do, because we had 14 years under the Conservatives where our high streets were in decay and shops were shutting. We had 7,000 pubs closing and businesses struggling across the country. We know that there is work to do, and I look forward to working with my hon. Friend and other Members on it.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  I am always happy to look at and respond to the correspondence I receive from hon. Members. I am aware of the issue my hon. Friend raises, which she has been consistently raising in this House. We came forward at the Budget with a significant package of support, and many small and independent businesses are small enough not to pay business rates because we have the small business rates relief in place, and we are extending that relief to support businesses that could extend to a second premises.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  My hon. Friend is a powerful and strong advocate both for the businesses in his constituency and for the hospitality sector more broadly. I thank him for our conversations; I think we spoke before Christmas as well as in recent weeks. I will of course continue to engage with him and the hospitality sector on tax issues, as is typical for a Tax Minister in the run-up to a Budget, but I also want to talk more about the broader support the Government can provide, working across Departments, as part of the high street strategy we have announced today.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  The Barnett consequentials of this decision will be set out in the usual way and through the usual process.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  I will continue to keep those important cultural and social assets in mind as we work on our policy for supporting businesses across the country.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  Over and over again, Conservative Members profess to be paragons of fiscal virtue, yet stand up in this place and say they want to cut taxation, which in effect means more and more borrowing. We have in the past seen the problems caused by Conservative Governments who let borrowing run out of control, cause interest rates to surge for families in our constituencies, send our economy to the dogs and harm living standards. We will not stand for that—we will not make the mistakes they made—and we will come forward with proportionate changes that support businesses, but that make sure we can continue to keep our public finances on a sustainable path.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his representations on behalf of businesses in his constituency. The Government are clear that we will look at the pub and hotel methodologies specifically. I would be happy to have a conversation with him about issues for other sectors, but the Government will focus on pubs and hotels. However, I would be happy to meet, to see if I can make it up to his constituency.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman has asked about timing. We have announced this decision today in time for new bills to be issued from 1 April that reflect the changes the Government have proposed, because we have listened and because we have carried out that engagement in recent weeks. I am not sure that I will take the hon. Gentleman up on his offer of a pub crawl just yet, but I hope he will be able to welcome the support we have provided for the pubs that he raised with me in questions earlier this year.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  There is a significant overlap between the pub sector and live music venues. Many pubs serve as grassroots live music venues, with the result that they are often valued in a similar way for business rates purposes. We did not think it would be right to draw the line so tightly that some music venues, which happened to be valued as pubs, received the relief and others did not. We think this is a fair and reasonable way forward that reflects the reality on the ground.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  Mr Speaker, I will wrap up very quickly, and I apologise again. This Government also understand that things are not easy out there. Today’s announcement is about additional support for pubs, but we understand that this is a tough time for other businesses on the high street. We have already taken significant steps to acknowledge that and support businesses, including £4.3 billion of business rates support in the Budget. Over the past decade, consumers have changed their habits and are increasingly working from home and shopping online, and these trends continue to make it harder for high street businesses. I am therefore announcing today that later this year the Government will bring forward a high streets strategy to reinvigorate our communities. We will work with businesses and representative bodies to bring that strategy together. It will be a cross-Government strategy, and we will be looking at what more the Government can do to support our high streets. To conclude, this Government have already started the work of reforming our business rates system, and any potential changes to business rates will be considered at the Budget in the usual way. Labour Members have the right economic plan for Britain and will back our high streets and our pubs every step of the way.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  One of my favourite things to do is to meet my hon. Friend to discuss a whole range of matters, so I will happily discuss this issue with him too. We have been in correspondence on this business already, so I hope that he passed on the messages from me about the need to check that there is a difference between the increase in the RV—the rateable value—and the increase in business rates bills. I hope to be in one of the fastest-growing cities in the country before long.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  I am sure that the consequentials and their implications will be set out as soon as is practically possible.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his engagement, persistence and advocacy on behalf of the businesses in his constituency. I know that he has had many conversations with businesses in his constituency, and he has been able to feed them directly to me as the Minister with responsibility for tax. I am sure that we will continue to have such conversations in the months and years to come.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  I do not think that was a question for me. It was a question for you, Mr Speaker.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his advocacy on behalf of the pubs and businesses in his constituency. Concerns have been raised about the methodology. We have looked into that in recent weeks, and we think it is right to review it. That review will take place in the coming months. It will definitely report in time for the new revaluation, so that we can have a long-term, sustainable methodology for pubs, making sure that they are valued in the right way for the long term, from 2029 onwards.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  That is a really important point. There are many independent pubs up and down the country, as well as bigger chain pubs, and it is right that the support that the Government are bringing forward will support both. Around 75%—definitely above 70%—of independents and chains will receive support this year, ensuring that their bills are either flat or falling. We want to make sure that we are protecting both the independents and the chains.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  Because of the concerns around the methodology to value hotels, today we have announced that we will review that methodology so that, in time for the next revaluation, hotels can have a methodology that more appropriately works for their sector. The hon. Gentleman is right to point out that hotels have seen some of the largest increases in their rateable values. Therefore, they will be some of the biggest beneficiaries from the caps we have put into the system this year.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his persistent and powerful engagement on these matters. He is an expert on all things high street and business rates, as I have come to know. Let me point him to the transforming business rates work that the Government have been publishing and advancing. One possibility that we are considering carefully and talking to businesses about is changing the business rates system from a slab system to a slice system. At present, if a business goes over an individual threshold, the new tax rate will then apply to the whole value of its property. Reform is always tricky, but we want to investigate whether changing to a slice system, whereby the tax rate would not involve those big stepped increases, would support investment by businesses on high streets in Rossendale and Darwen and across the country.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  Apologies again, Mr Speaker; it will not happen again.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  I do not know the details of that individual business owner and by how much her rateable value has increased, but we have implemented the permanently lower multipliers. They are now 33% lower than the tax rate that is paid by the online giants. That is a big change to the system that this Government have delivered, and which previous Governments ducked time and again. We have implemented our transitional relief caps this year, capping increases at £800 or at 15% or 30% for the largest businesses. We will continue to engage with businesses on what more we can do on a whole range of issues.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Business Rates · Hansard source

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  I thank my hon. Friend for his question, and for his engagement on this matter on behalf of the businesses in his constituency. We are making a significant intervention for pubs because we understand the concerns that have been raised about the methodology. As we have heard from my hon. Friend, pubs play a central role in his community in Dartford, as they do elsewhere, and they are important to the health, life and vibrancy of high streets, towns and villages in constituencies across the country.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  I regularly reply to letters and parliamentary questions from the hon. Member and those on both sides of the House.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  This is an important issue that is of concern to childminders. I have replied to correspondence on this topic from the right hon. Member, I think, and from others in this place. I would be happy to talk to Members about it. I think the change is proportionate and reasonable, and we have engaged closely with the sector to make sure that the burden will be proportionate for those who are affected by it.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  When the Liberal Democrats had the chance, what did they do? They put up VAT on hospitality businesses. Now they are coming up with ideas, without the plans to pay for them. They want to increase borrowing over and over again, rather than ensure that we support businesses in a fair and sustainable way over the years to come.

• 27 Jan 2026 · Topical Questions · Hansard source

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  It is important to note that there is a 40% relief in the system for smaller and independent businesses. It will be phased out over the coming years; we have put in transitional relief protection. As the Chancellor said earlier, that is reasonable. Members from across the House will agree that it would not be right to have temporary pandemic support still in place at the end of the decade.