Business Rates

My hon. Friend is right. The backbone of our economy has been our small businesses. We have been described as a nation of shopkeepers. There is a reason for that: our economy has been based on and has thrived on small businesses. Many of those businesses provide vital services to the community. A little anecdote, which Members may laugh at, says it all. I was at a meeting with some of my elderly constituents. One lady mentioned that a laundrette had shut down. She lived on the 14th floor of a tower block and did not have room for a washer in her flat. She would have to take two buses to get to the laundrette. Those are vital facilities for people. When I spoke to the owner of my laundrette on Danebury avenue in Roehampton, he told me his business rates would be more than his takings every month. That is what the Government are doing to businesses. It is untenable to say that we cannot reconsider business rates because the legislation and the regulations are already in place.