Speeches by Tomlinson.

“There are so many different aspects of it. One of the challenges is that, because we wanted to redesign the system and put those permanently lower multipliers into it, we have now gone from two different multipliers to five. That has added complication. I would not want to say that, by making it less complicated, I wan…”

“This is what I was trying to do when I made the statement in late January—”

“That is just the sort of thing that I want to look at in the review that we announced in late January, when we announced the new relief for pubs and music venues. We heard that loud and clear from the publicans and the groups that represent them after the Budget. Before the Budget, we had not had strong and significant…”

“The key technical driving force for the change was the conversations we had with the sector after the Budget about the way they are valued. We in the Treasury made an assessment that we wanted to look at that again and in full. That is why we came forward with the package of support.”

“Pubs definitely have a unique role in British culture—”

“Yes, and the tax rates, and the multiplier within this—there is a whole reform—has now fallen.”

“Yes. The rates for pubs, for example, are determined broadly based on their turnover. There are some adjustments, which I mentioned earlier. The rates for shops or restaurants are not based on their turnover; they are based on their floor space and a methodology that the VOA sets out, which you can all read in the rele…”

“Can I just add one thing? One of the reasons why businesses will see their bills go up is that they are doing really well and performing really well. That goes back to the point about the way that pubs, in particular, are valued. If their takings increase, their bills increase and their business rates bills increase, w…”

“When I did the statement in late January, I overran in the Commons, as you may remember; that is a learning for me. The reason I overran was because it is a very complicated system. I cannot recall how long the Chancellor’s speech was in the autumn Budget—I imagine it was around an hour. The time you get to spend in a …”

“This is getting into the detail of the way that different businesses are valued for business rates. Most high street businesses—cafés, restaurants, shops—will be valued on their floor space. There is a complex methodology, which the Valuation Office Agency publishes in consultation with the sector and experts in this s…”

“It is a big, long-term change.”

“I expect that we will publish our high streets strategy before the Budget this year.”

“Well, one of the things that lots of businesses will have done is go online and look at the page that I and officials made sure was signed off and clear before the Budget. The UKSA said in its reply that we provided a good level of detail on the impact—”

“Of course, in the run-up to the Budget we considered the fact that the independent Low Pay Commission had come forward with its recommendations on the national living wage, and the Government’s decision was to accept those. I am aware, through representations from Members of Parliament and from businesses and the busin…”

“One of the things—it may be helpful for Helen to come in in a second—is that, for example, we know that only 1% of retail hospitality and leisure properties are seeing their bill go up by more than 100% this year. The shop in your constituency that you are referring to is a relative outlier, because only 1% of business…”

“I think that the challenge—this is a lesson for Government—is that we legislated for an up to 20p reduction in the multiplier. We chose to go for a 5p, rather than a 20p, reduction for the reasons that I set out relating to fiscal sustainability. We decided to make sure that that 5p reduction, worth almost £1 billion, …”

“I believe—I don’t have the text right in front of me—that the manifesto also said in the next sentence, and you may have it there, that we would look to see how we could reform it to support investment and to support high street businesses, and we are doing that, too.”

“I do not want to comment in too much detail on the specific business, because I do not know the details—”

“Because we knew that businesses would be coming into the system for the first time, we introduced these cash caps at £800 each year. Even if, say, a business is coming in and its new rateable value will mean that its business rates bill is, let’s say, £10,000—if it is coming in for the first time and that is what its f…”

“I came in on 1 September with a whole range of tax heads and elements of the tax system to focus on with officials and Ministers in the run-up to the Budget, and we had a whole range of meetings on business rates. It is worth me being really clear that we received data from the Valuation Office Agency about the changes…”