// Labour is to announce its plans to scrap business rates in bid to shift tax burden from high street shops onto internet giants
// Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out the plan in a keynote speech to the party’s conference in Brighton later today
The Labour party is planning to scrap business rates and shift the tax burden onto internet giants like Amazon as it tries to gain ground on Boris Johnson before the next election.
The party’s would-be finance minister Rachel Reeves is set to say Labour would impose higher taxes on online retailers to fund tax relief for bricks and mortar businesses.
Reeves will set out the plan in a keynote speech to the party’s conference in Brighton today in which she will challenge the Conservative claim on the business vote.
This will include a promise to ensure bricks-and-mortar stores and services aren’t at a disadvantage to online companies.
The party is set to say it would instead ditch so-called business rates and replace them with another system.
“We will look at every single tax break,” Reeves will say, according to advanced excerpts of her speech. “If it doesn’t deliver for the taxpayer or for the economy then we will scrap it. Labour will tax fairly, spend wisely, and get our economy firing on all cylinders.”
While the overall aim is to repair relations with business, the proposals also include the scrapping of tax relief for private schools as the Labour leadership tries to keep the more socialist wing of the party on board.
Under leader Keir Starmer, Labour is seeking to reinvent itself and turn the party into a viable alternative for government as the British electorate faces a tough few months with labor shortages.
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