A Plaid Cymru government would “cut taxes to support small Welsh businesses”

Plaid Cymru economy spokesperson Luke Fletcher to announce plans to help local businesses

A Plaid Cymru government would cut taxes for small, independent Welsh businesses.

Plaid Cymru’s economy spokesperson Luke Fletcher is expected to outline his party’s plans during his Spring Conference speech.

In his speech, Mr Fletcher is expected to highlight the struggles that independent businesses face in Wales, saying that there are “countless examples the length and breadth of Wales where the full potential of our domestic businesses is going unfulfilled”, with “too many independent shops, pubs, cafés and restaurants having to close” which has led to the decline of town centres.

The Plaid Cymru Economy spokesperson will say that Wales needs to change how it taxes our town centre businesses to realise the potential of town centres and independent businesses.

He will outline Plaid Cymru’s plans to use the business rate multiplier to “reduce rates for independent businesses in retail or hospitality”.

According to Mr Fletcher, the policy would be cost-neutral, as a Plaid Cymru-led Government in 2026 would “look at how we charge rates so that those who can afford to pay more, contribute more”.

In his speech to the Plaid Cymru Spring Conference, Plaid Cymru Economy Spokesperson, Luke Fletcher MS will say,

“Our high streets provide a lens on the challenges facing Welsh businesses – challenges that Labour in Wales has failed to address or made actively worse over a quarter of a century in power.

“It’s a story we’re all too familiar with, isn’t it? On high streets across Wales there are empty buildings and shuttered shop fronts where thriving local businesses should be. Pubs, cafés and restaurants, all struggling with a cost-of-doing business crisis – a crisis made worse by sky-high taxes on businesses and Labour’s scrapping of business rates relief.

“An independent store owner on the high street in Aberystwyth pays nearly ten times more than a major chain on the town’s outskirts, and significantly more than would an equivalent business in England. In Bridgend, a locally owned and managed coffee shop and bakery pays the same level of non-domestic rates as its multinational competitors. Instead of being able to grow and develop as a business, investing locally in the supply chain, training and jobs, it is a business simply looking to survive.

“There are countless examples the length and breadth of Wales of businesses’ full potential going unfulfilled – too many of what should be successful businesses going to the wall. And the result? Town centres in decline, instead of on the up.

“I am proud that more and more businesses are looking to Plaid Cymru for the solution. And I am even more proud that we are able to offer one.

“If we want our town centres to thrive, then we need to change how we tax the businesses on our high streets, to better support the kinds of successful Welsh-owned shops, cafés, bars and restaurants we all go to our town centres for.

“There’s a solution that is well within our grasp.

“Through varying the multiplier, we have the power to reduce rates for independent businesses in retail, leisure and hospitality. It really is that simple. And by looking at how we charge rates so that those who can afford to pay contribute more, it would also be cost-neutral.

Mr Fletcher will also say,

“In the coming weeks, I will formally be launching ‘Making Wales Work: Plaid Cymru’s new economic plan’. I am proud of the amount of hard work that has gone into this plan, and the new and ambitious vision for the Welsh economy that it represents.

“That vision and that ambition extends from our seabed to our high streets, and covers everywhere in between.

“Our plan will see capital built, retained and recycling in our communities, instead of it leaking – and in some cases flooding – out of Wales. It will grow and sustain Welsh-owned businesses, delivering good jobs, reviving our town centres, and boosting living standards.

“I am clearer now than ever that Wales needs a Government with real vision and with fire in its belly.

“Wales needs a Plaid Cymru Government – and next year we will have an historic opportunity to deliver one. “