Speeches by Tomlinson.

“We will be working across Government on the high streets strategy. Treasury Ministers will be working with colleagues in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department for Business and Trade. We will make progress on that in the coming weeks, with the strategy to report by the end of the y…”

“This Government are fully committed to resetting our relationship with the European Union. As the hon. Gentleman highlighted, the previous Government did as much as they could to damage that relationship, damage our productivity and damage our working relationship with our nearest partners. We are seeking to change tha…”

“I thank the hon. Member for her representation of her constituents. The Chancellor has already said today, as she said yesterday, that we understand that there are particular pressures facing households that use heating oil for their heating. A meeting has been arranged for tomorrow with the Financial Secretary to the …”

“We have made sure to freeze fuel duty since we have been in office. That has saved the average driver 8p per litre at the pump, and it will rise to 11p when the increase does not go ahead in a few weeks’ time. If heating oil is an issue that affects the hon. Lady’s constituents, I hope she will be able to attend tomorr…”

“The Government recognise the important contribution that hospitality businesses make to communities across the UK, including in Northern Ireland. Reducing VAT rates, or applying different VAT rates within the UK, would add complexity and come at a significant cost to the Exchequer.”

“I thank my hon. Friend for his representations on this matter here today and over many months, and in Westminster Hall just a few weeks ago. The rural fuel duty relief scheme does provide that 5p discount and it will benefit his constituents on the islands and in the communities he represents. We will of course keep al…”

“I thank my hon. Friend for the question, and for the representation she has provided for her constituents and, through her work on the loan charge and taxpayer fairness all-party parliamentary group, for many across the country who have been affected by the loan charge. At the Budget, we made the decision to write off …”

“This is a complex change to implement, but the Government’s position is that it is right to have the same rate of VAT across our country. During the pandemic, there was a cut—a temporary cut—to the rate of VAT and that came at the significant cost of £8 billion. We have to make sure that we can raise revenue from acros…”

“When we bring forward the high streets strategy, it will look in the round at what more we can do on regulation, licensing and the decisions that are made in the Treasury to continue to support small businesses and those on our high streets. That is incredibly important, and we will continue to look at that closely.”

“I am always happy to show leadership, and this Government—and, I may say, previous Governments—have worked hard with international partners, both in the OECD and the UN, to do all we can to reduce tax avoidance and evasion by multinational companies. We continue to work with our partners in the UK and abroad to clamp d…”

“The Government regularly assess whether to add energy-saving materials, including heat batteries, to the list of items covered by the current VAT relief, which is set to continue until March 2027. Any decisions would have to be announced by the Chancellor at a fiscal event, but I am happy to discuss the matter.”

“I thank my hon. Friend for her representation of Little Italy in her fantastic constituency. We are working on the high streets strategy. She is right to highlight that with long-term trends, whether the impact of the pandemic or of the shift to online retail, we need to look at this as a whole. On taxation and busines…”

“The letters that were sent will receive a reply very shortly. A decision was made that in the run-up to the announcement of the independent loan charge review, it would not be appropriate for the Government to set out in detail their views on a live issue that an independent reviewer was looking at. That review was pub…”

“Around one in three businesses continue to benefit from the small business rates relief and do not pay any business rates at all, with an additional 85,000 benefiting from reduced relief as that is tapered away. At the Budget, we also announced changes to small business rates relief so that we can provide an additional…”

“I beg to move, That the Committee has considered the draft Climate Change Levy (Fuel Use and Recycling Processes) (Amendment) Regulations 2026. It is a pleasure to serve on the Committee with you in the Chair, Ms Vaz. The draft regulations exempt from the climate change levy electricity used in—this is a word I am goin…”

“I thank the shadow Minister for his questions. I always enjoy listening to him; one day, I am sure I will do so on a bumper car in his constituency. Those Members who did not serve on the Finance (No. 2) Bill Committee will not know that reference; I will have to update them afterwards. We will conduct the wider review…”

“It is definitely something that we should consider. One of the taxes we have is the digital services tax—the 2% charge on the revenues of the largest online platforms—and the Government do not have any plans to change that. That change has been implemented over recent years. Broadly, our direction of travel—and I have …”

“Yes. Specifically, in the way that pubs are valued and through the changes we will consider as part of the review, I want to get to a place where those businesses have a clearer understanding of the underlying formula used to determine their valuations. For shops, restaurants and others, they know what their floor spac…”

“Just to set out, there are these three big things happening—I will not go through them again. On the day of the Budget, the Government focused on the big change that it had agency and control over, which was the change in the tax rate and the change in the multiplier. Because the rateable values are set independently, …”

“It is right that, in part, it is quite complicated; this is a hard thing to do. The way that many businesses are valued by the VOA is not determined by politicians or the Government. One of the things—”