Chris Elmore, MP for Ogmore, has urged the UK Government to cut business rates and support struggling high streets and businesses in Ogmore.  Mr Elmore voted in favour of the motion to cut business rates in an Opposition Day Debate on Wednesday.  This move comes as new figures from the Office of National Statistics show over 300,000 businesses are at risk across the country.

With business organisations including the CBI, FSB, British Chamber of Commerce and over 40 trade associations calling on urgent reform of business taxation, the cost to businesses from rising inflation, increasing national insurance and increasing shortages is making the change more urgently needed.

At their party conference last month, the Labour Party committed to cutting and eventually entirely scrapping business rates and replacing them with a new form of business taxation fit for the 21st century.  Labour would pay for easing this burden by raising the UK Digital Services Tax to 12 per cent for 2022/23, raising £2.1bn which would be spent on cutting business rates for small businesses and the high street.  In the long term, Labour would fund the replacement for business rates by shifting the burden of business taxation away from the high street towards large online tech giants.

Chris Elmore, MP for Ogmore, said:

“Local businesses are crucial to the local economy.  Our high streets enrich our lives and communities, and in the face of huge adversity need protection so they can carry on providing for our communities well into the future.

In Wales, the Welsh Government has given the most generous support for Business Rate relief, showing the difference a Labour Government can make.  But I know that local businesses are still struggling with shortages and supply chain issues increasing pressure and costs.

I want high streets and local businesses in Ogmore to thrive, so I support the Labour Party motion to scrap business rates.  We will carry out the biggest overhaul of business taxation in a generation, so our local, independent businesses can lead the pack rather than watch opportunities go elsewhere to the big online chains.”