To a landlord in a draughty Victorian boozer staring at his latest business rates bill, it will read more like a ransom note from the mafia than a letter from HMRC. In 2026, under Keir Starmer’s ‘growth-first’ regime, this chap’s rates have rocketed.

While Starmer is strutting the stage at Davos or waxing lyrical or at some CBI luncheon about ‘unleashing Britain’s potential’ and ‘building a brighter future’, delivering drivel so vacuous that it would make even Tony Blair blush, his government is unleashing policies that are throttling the engines of economic growth.

The changes to business rates are exhibit A, a perfect storm of outdated valuations, inflationary hikes and half-hearted reform. Britain was promised a ‘fundamental review’ and got superficial tinkering: new rateable values kicking in from April 2026, leading to an........

© The Spectator