Opinion: Time is now for Johnson and Javid to back retail on rates reform

Javid, Sajid 2

If the message to prime minister Boris Johnson and chancellor Sajid Javid on business rates wasn’t already clear, it certainly is now.

Ahead of next month’s Budget – Britain’s first since leaving the EU on January 31 – the CBI and Institute of Directors have both waded in to urge Javid to review the property tax system.

The former has called for a “comprehensive review” in a bid to “reduce the bill on individual businesses”.

CBI director-general Dame Carolyn Fairbairn says Javid’s Budget offers him “the chance to turn rising optimism into a surge in investment across the UK”. It is a chance he must take.

 

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