Reeves to hand pubs lifeline with rowback on rates relief

Rachel Reeves is set to hand Britain's ailing pubs a lifeline with a U-turn on plans to scrap business rates relief for the hospitality industry, ministers have told The Independent.

- DAVID MADDOX ATHENA STAVROU KATE DEVLIN

In what will be another humiliating climbdown for the government, the chancellor is expected to extend the relief in an effort to help landlords with rising bills, instead of scrapping cash support from April. It comes after a furious reaction from the industry, which has warned of widespread closures. Financial pressures have seen one pub close its doors every day since Sir Keir Starmer took office.

In the November Budget, the chancellor announced plans to scale back the business rates discount that has been in force since the pandemic, from 75 per cent to 40 per cent - and said there would be no discount at all from April. But ministers have told The Independent that Ms Reeves is now expected to row back on her plans, with one saying: “There’s going to be a U-turn on pubs.”

Another said that the changes were “politically unsustainable” in a year in which local elections, to be held in May, could decide whether Sir Keir survives as Labour leader and prime minister.

Pub landlords have reacted with cautious optimism to the news. Dawn Hopkins, 56, who runs the Rose Inn in Norwich, said news of the U-turn will come as a “huge relief” to many pubs, but that there are still concerns about the reevaluation of business rates.

“Getting a discount back would be a huge relief, and at this point, anything would help,” Ms Hopkins, who is also the vice-chair of the Campaign for Pubs, told The Independent. “But a major problem is that they’ve done these reevaluations of business rates, which have been astronomical in a lot of places,” she said. “So getting a discount back would be amazing, but we still need to look at the reevaluation issue.” Chris Welch, 39, who runs the Fishnet Tavern in North Tyneside, said: “It’s really positive news if this happens, but I still think more needs to be done.”