'Radical' business rates review launched

Labour has said it will "cut and then freeze" business rates for 1.5 million small business properties if it wins the next General Election.

Shabana Mahmood, shadow exchequer secretary to the Treasury, said: "Labour's better plan goes much further than anything David Cameron and George Osborne are offering.

"And unlike the Tories, we won't short-change areas which choose not to have an elected mayor by giving them a second-class deal. Every part of England will benefit from Labour's better plan, not just a few."

Mahmood's comments follow the Chief Secretary to the Treasury's announcement of a "radical" review of English business rates.

Danny Alexander has launched what the government calls "the most wide-ranging review of national business rates in a generation".

The review, set to report back before the 2016 Budget, will examine the structure of the current system, which is paid annually on 1.8 million properties in England.

It will examine how businesses use property, what the UK can learn from other countries and how the system could be modernised so it better reflects changes in the value of property.

"Now the time has come for a radical review of this important tax. We want to ensure the business rates system is fair, efficient and effective," the Chief Secretary to the Treasury is expected to say.