MP Rachel Gilmour has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of the Budget on Wednesday (October 30) to ‘save small businesses and high streets’ by fixing the broken business rates system.

Mrs Gilmour, who represents West Somerset and parishes bordering Wellington, has written to the Chancellor calling for her to overhaul the system and for an extension of rates relief in the meantime as a way to ‘back local businesses’ and ‘save our high streets’.

Dozens of fellow Liberal Democrat MPs also signed the letter, which said it was ‘unfair on companies, bad for our local communities, and damaging for our national economy’.

The MPs said pubs, restaurants, and shops were being forced to close due to the ‘outdated’ system and the cost of the tax was being passed on to consumers.

Mrs Gilmour also criticised a failure by the previous Conservative Government to keep its 2019 manifesto promise to reform business rates.

She said: “Businesses are tired of being treated with such cynicism and relying on a patchwork of last-minute, temporary reliefs.”

Liberal Democrats want it replaced with a new, ‘fair system’, by April, 2026, making this Budget the last one to include business rates at all.

The party’s proposed “Commercial Landowner Levy” would be based purely on the value of the land on which the business was located, with annual re-valuations.

Mrs Gilmour said the Government should act urgently and make this ‘the last Budget where business rates are a permanent feature of our tax system’.

She wanted the Chancellor to keep in place as an interim measure an existing 75 per cent relief for retail, hospitality, and leisure businesses until the new system was in place, and to freeze at least the small business multiplier for the same period.

Mrs Gilmour said: “Local businesses here in Tiverton and Minehead make an incredible contribution and we are lucky to have them.

“They serve as the heart of our community and the backbone of our economy.

“We need to back them so they can continue to provide us with their fantastic services.

“The previous Conservative Government acted as a barrier to business at every turn, crashing the economy and forcing far too many to close through their disgraceful mismanagement.

“For years, the Conservative Party promised time and again to overhaul the outdated business rates system but, as was far too common, they failed to live up to their word.

“It is outrageous that under the Conservatives, our small bricks and mortar high street businesses have seen their rates go up while out of town Amazon warehouses have seen their rates go down.

“The new Government cannot afford to miss this opportunity at the Budget.

“They must overhaul business rates so that businesses here in Tiverton and Minehead can continue to thrive.”

The Budget will be the first to be delivered by the new Labour Government since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister after winning the General Election in July.

But ahead of it Sir Keir has warned of a ‘harsh light of fiscal reality’ for the country.