Communities secretary Eric Pickles has backed rates repatriation and said business rates reform will be a top priority for the Conservatives post-election.
Interviewed by Estates Gazette at the new enterprise zone in Harlow, Pickles said: “We are already looking carefully at how business rates inter-relate with other issues.”
Pickles backed the devolution of business rates and said: “The prime minister has pledged that over the course of the next government we will repatriate 66% of business rates.”
He was referring to a speech David Cameron gave to the British Chamber of Commerce last week in which he said: “The next Conservative government would substantially raise the proportion of business rates that local areas can keep. We are at half today, we want to get that to at least two-thirds.
“So in that moment when you’re putting in an application for a commercial development, mixed use, whatever it may be, this is a further big incentive to get councils on your side and get Britain building.”
