Pudsey constituency businesses bar Chancellor over rates and tax hikes

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been banned from shops in her Leeds constituency as frustrated business owners say soaring rates and taxes are pushing independent retailers to breaking point.

- by Charles Gray

Carpet Corner and The March Inn have backed the ban.

She is no longer welcome at Pudsey Computers, a family-run shop founded in 1989, after its owner revealed his business rates bill is set to jump by thousands of pounds in a single year.

Carpet Corner Bramley, another local firm in Mrs Reeves' constituency for Leeds West and Pudsey, has said it "stands behind" Pudsey Computers.

The backlash follows a similar protest at the Marsh Inn pub, where landlord Martin Knowles has barred all Labour MPs after saying tax and rates hikes were hammering his boozer.

Steven Lightfoot, 40, who runs Pudsey Computers, says he was left "baffled" and "astonished" when he realised the shop had been pushed out of small business rates relief.