Author Archives: Pawel Urbanski

Pawel Urbanski

Labour has the promise on business rates – We have the plan

By Pawel Urbanski | Tue 18th August 2026 - 9:32 am

What just happened

The new Prime Minister has put business rates at the heart of his first Budget on 28 October: 20 per cent relief for pubs and clubs, and a promise to “look at business rates more broadly for high street businesses“.

An uncomfortable truth first: ask on any high street who stands up for the shopkeeper, and few will say the Liberal Democrats. Yet on business rates we have carried the best answer for eight years. Labour is now campaigning on ground that has been ours for years, though the message has never reached most voters.

Why this is liberal ground

A high street is not just an economy. It is where a community sees itself: the baker who knows your order, the salon giving a teenager her first job, the pub where the ward hears its own news. It is also liberalism in practice: hundreds of people running their own lives, answerable to their customers rather than a head office, with power spread along a street instead of held by one chain or one landlord.

Continue reading »
Posted in Op-eds | 6 Comments
Advert

Recent Comments

  • Michal Simon
    @Sarah Dyke You have highlighted an important problem. Climate change is already hitting farmers in practical ways: wetter winters, flooded fields, longer drou...
  • Ben Mathis
    If the planned reorganisation was so bad - as a Londoner and thus not affected, I can't directly comment - then it's good to see the government reconsider. The ...
  • Chris Cory
    Completely agree with this article and comments from Simon, John and Nigel. Some years ago we decided that as a progressive party of the left we should focus ...
  • Nigel Quinton
    Excellent article, totally agree with your observations, and for once disagree with Mick Taylor, when he states that "Focussing on men and boys will necessarily...
  • theakes
    Local Green challenging Polanski for the nomination. Gives s time to get in there before they have a candidate. This is a winnable seat in 2033/4 but we have t...