More than 5,500 small business owners from across the UK have written to the chancellor demanding an urgent review of the forthcoming business rates revaluation, warning that it risks forcing thousands of viable firms to close permanently.
The open letter, coordinated by MP Rupert Lowe, has been signed by pub landlords, café owners, shopkeepers and local employers who say they are already operating at breaking point after a decade of relentless cost pressures.
Addressed directly to Rachel Reeves, the letter calls on the Treasury to urgently reassess the impact of the revaluation on small businesses and introduce meaningful mitigation measures to prevent widespread closures on high streets and in town centres.
Business owners describe having endured years of rising rents, soaring energy bills, higher insurance premiums, inflation, staffing pressures, Covid-era debt and successive tax increases. Many say they have adapted where possible, borrowed to stay afloat, cut their own wages and worked longer hours simply to survive.
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