Rupert is organising an open letter to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, in relation to business rates. If you would like to sign this letter, please fill out the below form.
Please Note: Your name will be published on the letter publicly.
The Letter
Dear Chancellor,
We are business owners – pubs, cafes, shops and local employers – who have kept going through a brutal decade.
We’ve dealt with rising rents, soaring energy bills, higher insurance, inflation, staffing pressures, Covid debt, and additional tax. We adapted, borrowed, cut our own wages and worked longer hours just to stay open.
Now we’re facing a business rates revaluation that, for many of us, will be the final straw.
Business rates are a fixed cost we can’t avoid. We can’t move online or relocate to a warehouse. We trade from real premises, on real high streets, serving real communities.
We are being punished for doing so.
This is about survival. For many businesses, even a modest rise means slashing staff, cutting hours, raising prices, or closing altogether.
We’re asking for fairness and common sense.
Please carry out an urgent review of the impact of the business rates revaluation on small businesses and put proper mitigation in place.
If our businesses go, they will not come back.