Part of 1. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:08 pm on 8 November 2016.
Thank you, First Minister. Small businesses tell me that they are hanging on by their fingernails. There are some winners as a result of the recent revaluation, but there are many, many more losers. I received an e-mail last night, at midnight, from a small business owner outside of my constituency who had seen that I was going to be asking this question today—she felt so strongly about it tha she contacted me to say that her revaluation has resulted in a 48 per cent increase in her rateable value. I know that many business owners and their employees are desperate for this Government to consider introducing the same terms around small business rate relief that the UK Government have. They’ve responded to the consultation that you guys have asked for and that’s what they’ve said. So, the question, really, I’ve got for you is: are you going to listen to them?