How small businesses will be helped by Labour if I become Chancellor – Rachel Reeves

The crucial trading period in the run-up to Christmas will be more important than ever this year following the terrible impact of Covid.

Make Small Business Saturday count and shop local in Yorkshire’s high streets and market towns like Otley – The Yorkshire Post says

And buying Christmas presents from our excellent independent businesses is such a wonderful way to celebrate the festive season.

In my own patch of Leeds West, stocking up on cakes from Carol’s and sorting your turkey at Skelton’s in Armley are a must.

Ahead of the big day, I popped into Ecotopia, an eco-friendly business in Leeds where you can take empty containers and fill them with their products. I also visited the new branch of Giggles nursery in Bramley to see how they are expanding.

These are all typical of businesses here which are creating jobs and providing valuable services. We can help them succeed and grow by getting out there and showing our support. Our high streets and our businesses are far more than just a convenient place to pop on a weekend. They enrich our communities, and crucial for growing our economy.

From Indie York, which provides mutual support to other businesses to the Hammonds of Hull Food Hall, the biggest artisan food and drinks offering in the city, from My Lahore in Bradford to the Piece Hall in Halifax and the Castle Hill Book Shop in Richmond, (and of course not forgetting Bettys!), there are so many businesses that make our great region what it is today.

But for far too long, our businesses have been penalised by the current system of business rates – an unbalanced system where online giants still aren’t paying their fair share.

Along with supply chain issues, a growing cost of living crisis and a National Insurance hike this spring, our businesses face a cliff edge in March when most relief for small businesses will end.

That’s why, if Labour were in power, we would cut business rates immediately until the next revaluation, helping out sectors like retail and hospitality.

And we would increase the threshold for small business rates relief – from the current £15,000 threshold to £25,000 – giving them a discount on their business rates bill for next year.

We would pay for that with a one-off rise in the Digital Services Tax from two per cent to 12 per cent. Under those plans, we would save shops and small factories around £4,000 a year.

But we know that the problem cannot be solved in a year. That’s why, as Chancellor, I would entirely scrap the current business rates system with a new form of business taxation fit for the 21st century.

The current outdated system is not fit for purpose as it punishes entrepreneurs and those seeking to invest in our communities.

This will be the biggest overhaul of business taxation in a generation, so our businesses can lead the pack, not watch opportunities go elsewhere.

It’s an approach of which I am proud – one that’s based on working together with our small businesses, pulling together in a national endeavour to rebuild Britain and to seize the opportunities of the future.

As a pro-worker, pro-business party, Labour would create a level playing field to help revive our high streets and boost our recovery.

The betrayal by this Government of businesses goes far deeper than its long overdue failure to take action on rates reform. Traders depend on decent transport connections so customers can get to them and they can easily reach their markets.

Despite all its empty rhetoric about “levelling up”, the Government has dealt the North’s economy a hammer blow by ditching the eastern leg of HS2 to Leeds. And the decision not to proceed with a new Northern Powerhouse Rail high-speed line to link Leeds and Bradford will have even more damaging consequences for local people and businesses.

This is not just a broken promise. Northern Powerhouse Rail was announced seven years ago, and re-announced 60 times since then by the Conservatives – it’s a complete betrayal of the North.

All this comes at a time when the Chancellor is piling on the tax rises after wasting a fortune in taxpayers’ cash on Covid contracts dished out to Conservative cronies without proper scrutiny.

As temperatures plummet and people turn up the heating, everyone is facing rocketing bills for their energy use. While the Government remains oblivious to the financial pain now facing millions, Labour would cut VAT on home fuel bills to help ease the financial burden.

If in government, we would be saving homeowners hundreds of pounds a year, with our plan to retrofit 19 million homes across our country, without landing working people with an extra bill.

The next few weeks are critical for shops and businesses. They are also vital for our health and wellbeing as we look forward to the chance to safely see family and friends over the festive period.

As this is my final Yorkshire Post column for 2021, I want to wish everyone a safe, secure and happy Christmas.

Rachel Reeves is the Shadow Chancellor and Labour MP for Leeds West.

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