The Conservatives have promised to abolish business rates for high street shops and pubs if they win the next election.
Unveiling the policy at the party’s conference in Manchester, shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride said the “burden of Labour’s tax rises” had been “simply too much to bear”.
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The party has said its policy is expected to cost £4bn a year and would benefit about 250,000 businesses in total.
Addressing the conference, Sir Mel said businesses needed “hope”, claiming that 89,000 jobs had been “destroyed” in the hospitality sector alone since last year’s budget.
He criticised a raft of new taxes introduced by Labour, including the tax on farms and the increase in employers’ national insurance contributions, and said the result was “pubs closing, shops sitting empty, high streets hollowed out”.
“Under Labour, many have seen their business rates double,” he said. “We need to get business rates down.
“So today I can announce that as a direct result of getting public spending under control, a future Conservative government will completely abolish business rates for shops and pubs on our high streets.
“End of. Finished. Gone.”
Sir Mel sought to portray the Tories as the party of “fiscal responsibility” by drawing comparisons with Labour and Reform UK, whom he said were being “found out”.
He accused Rachel Reeves of already having “blown a vast hole in the public finances” but that “yet more tax rises await” in her budget next month.
“In fact, under Labour, nothing is safe from the taxman – not your job, not your home, not your pension, not your farm, not your business.
“Not even that – what you simply wish to pass on to your own children. You name it, they’ll tax it.”
Turning his his fire on Reform UK, he said Nigel Farage was “marching to the left” and likened his policies to that of Jeremy Corbyn.
