Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski calls for business rates rethink from Chancellor
Chancellor Philip Hammond has been told personally of how traders in Shropshire are struggling to survive because of business rates.
Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski said he had met Mr Hammond, telling him he needed to show leadership and grasp the nettle to reduce the rates businesses are expected to pay.
Mr Kawczynski said: "I have told the Chancellor that unless he lowers this tax he will be responsible for causing significant extra pressure on these businesses which will have a negative impact on the economy.
"He needs to show leadership and reverse these tax increases. Business rates are too high and they are having a detrimental impact on high streets in towns like Shrewsbury."
Last month, Mr Kawczynski invited the Chancellor to come on a pub crawl of Shrewsbury so that he could see for himself the impact business rates are having on pub landlords and back in August he asked the Prime Minister if she would consider a trip to the town.
Rethink
The Salopian Pub on Smithfield Road, Shrewsbury, is among businesses struggling to cope with rates bills. Landlord Ollie Parry said he had been hit by a massive rise in business rates as a result of a re-valuation process which began in 2017.
He has appealed after receiving a letter saying he will have to pay £42,000, almost four times his current fees of £11,000, and believes his pub will become a boarded-up “eyesore” unless there is a rethink.
Mr Kawczynski recently met a representative of the Valuation Office Agency – the government organisation responsible for determining the rateable values of businesses across the country – to discuss the situation in Shrewsbury.
He was joined by the executive director of Shrewsbury Business District Improvement, Seb Slater, to discuss the hike in rates which led to a number of businesses claiming they will face increasingly difficult trading conditions.
