Tom Pursglove – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the HM Treasury

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Tom Pursglove on 2016-03-15.

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential benefits and costs of a business rates holiday for the steel industry.

Mr David Gauke

The Government has worked hard to deliver on the steel industry’s key asks. We (a) secured state aid approval to compensate for energy costs, (b) secured flexibility over EU emissions regulations, (c) published guidance so that the true value of UK steel can be taken into account in major procurement decisions, and (d) continue to tackle unfair trading practices at an EU and an international level.

Further, Budget 2016 confirmed that the annual indexation of business rates will switch from the Retail Price Index to be consistent with the main measure of inflation, currently the Consumer Prices Index, from April 2020 for all ratepayers, including the steel industry. This represents a cut every year from 2020 worth £370 million in 2020-21 and growing significantly thereafter.