A Plaid Cymru Member of the Senedd has called on the Welsh Government to use funding from the UK Government’s recent Budget to restore business rate relief to 75 per cent.
Llyr Gruffydd MS, who represents the region in the Senedd, said the decision to reduce the rate relief to 40 per cent in April 2024 has had a “disproportionate impact on Welsh businesses.”
Businesses in Wales currently pay more than in England – where rate relief has been capped at 75 per cent until at least the end of March 2025.
Temporary rate relief support for businesses in the retail hospitality and leisure sector was introduced in Wales at the start of the pandemic in a bid to provide additional support.
But in April 2024 the relief was reduced to 40 per cent as part of the Welsh Government’s budget.
Speaking at the time Finance Minister Rebecca Evans MS said: “That support was always intended to be temporary. It’s not something that business would have been planning on at all for the next financial year because it was assumed it would come to an end in any case.
“We have made some really, really difficult choices with the budget and our priority has been protecting public services
According to the Welsh Government restoring business rate relief to 75 per cent for the retail, leisure and hospitality sector would cost an estimated £50 million.
However Plaid Cymru have argued that this sum be drawn from the £1.7 billion in consequential funding allocated to Wales as a result of the UK Government Budget.
The party have described the situation as a “double whammy” for Welsh businesses, citing the dual pressures of reduced rate relief and the rise in National Insurance contributions.
Llyr Gruffydd MS said that small businesses “need every help they can get to overcome the ongoing cost-of-living pressures on incomes.”
“Wales’ economy is struggling, with economic inactivity here the second highest of the UK nations and regions, and unemployment the highest in the UK,” added Llyr Gruffydd MS.
“A situation that will only be worsened by Labour’s increase in National Insurance contributions made by employers.
“These raises, coupled with the cuts to business rate relief earlier this year, result in a double whammy to small businesses and high streets in Wales, and therefore has a disproportionate impact on Welsh businesses.
“Labour like to call themselves the party of business, and they claim that the latest Budget has given them more money to spend. It’s time they proved this, by supporting our small businesses in Wales by restoring the business rate relief to 75%.
“Wales’ economy is dependent on the small businesses who employ our workers and line our high streets.
“Strengthening our small businesses, growing our economy, and putting more money in people’s pockets will be a top priority for a Plaid Cymru government in contrast to the Labour Government who have overseen the decline of living standards, the decline in industry, and decline in our economy.”
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