Southport Conservatives Call for Business Rates Exemption for Retail, Hospitality, and Leisure Sectors

Business rates are set to soar for firms of all sizes across England, including in Southport, following the April 2026 Business Rates revaluation. While the Government announced a limited additional relief scheme for pubs and live music venues on 27 January, Southport Conservatives say the measures fall far short of what local businesses need.

The new relief will help just 1 in 16 retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, and independent pubs are still expected to pay an average of £5,700 more per year under Labour.

Southport Conservatives are calling for urgent action at both national and local level to protect the town’s economy.

Mike Prendergast, Conservative Group Leader on Sefton Council, said, “While I’m sure many local pubs will welcome the recent announcement of temporary relief, it does nothing for our restaurants, cafés, hotels and shops. Southport’s economy is built on these very businesses, yet from April they are facing huge increases in their Business Rates.”

“At a national level we need to be looking at exempting many retail, hospitality and leisure businesses from Business Rates entirely. We have so many businesses in Southport that would benefit from this policy and at the last council meeting we asked the council to write to the Chancellor, calling for this but it was rejected by Labour councillors, most of whom have never run their own businesses.”

With thousands of businesses across Southport and Sefton likely to be hit by higher bills, Cllr Prendergast says Sefton Council must also do more locally.

“While Business Rates are set by central government, there is still plenty we can do locally to support our town centres and local businesses.”

“Measures such as 3 hours free parking, tackling antisocial behaviour and street drinking, fixing the basics, like roads and pavements and removing pointless cycle lane schemes would make a real difference. Improving the town centre experience would increase footfall and directly help local businesses. All of this is within Sefton Council’s control.”

He also warned against proposals for a tourist tax.

“We could also push back against a likely Tourist Tax that aims to primarily raise money for Liverpool at the expense of Southport. This will be yet another tax on Southport on our tourist economy.”

“Southport has so much potential, but at the moment we’re held back by the cumulative effect of over a decade of poor choices by a Labour run council.”

“There is so much more that we could do to help our local businesses and one of the fundamental problems we have now is at both a national level and at a local level, decisions are being made by people who simply don’t understand how many local businesses operate.”