Business Rates and the Recession

Indeed. That is the reason for our policy of returning the ability to determine the rates to local authorities. We understand that there must be some sort of redistributive mechanism to take account of more and less wealthy areas, but the complete dislocation of the payment from what local authorities receive is unhelpful for local authorities and business. To continue the Starship Enterprise theme, if a tourist group of aliens visited Britain today, I wonder what they would make of it. "So let me see," they might say—they have west midlands accents, by the way—"business funds the economy, which pays for everything. This country is in the worst recession in human living memory, but the Government are not only putting up the taxes that businesses pay on their premises, but making it doubly hard for businesses, by removing the smoothing mechanism that, until things got really bad, helped them to manage the increases in their payments. The Government think that business activity is going to shrink by more than 3 per cent. and that there'll be more than 3 million unemployed by the end of the year. Hmm, and the Government are really unpopular. Well, we don't need our superior intellectual powers to work that one that." That is hardly the way for the Government to live long and prosper, is it? The Conservatives are hardly the ones with the answers. The only policy that I can detect is the business loan guarantee scheme. I have listened in vain for new policies and for their announcements of help for business. No fiscal stimulus, no tax support—as the Minister said, the Conservatives are short on solutions. However, the main Liberal Democrat response has to be: "Not good enough, Mr. Chancellor. We'll be voting with the Conservatives on this occasion."