6. Motion to annul the Non-Domestic Rating (Amendment of Definition of Domestic Property) (Wales) Order 2022

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:20 pm on 6 July 2022.

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Photo of Tom Giffard Tom Giffard Conservative 4:20, 6 July 2022

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Can I thank Members for their valuable contributions to my annulment motion today? We've heard from a range of Members across the Chamber, and I'll just cap off very quickly some of their remarks. Sam Rowlands kicked off by talking about the economic impact—that £6,000 additional tax bill that some of these businesses now are going to be forced to pay. Peter Fox talked about this is the wrong time for it. We're just coming out of a pandemic, we're facing a cost-of-living crisis—this is absolutely not the right time, if ever there was one, to enact these changes in the first place. And James Evans also spoke a lot about that blanket approach across the country to these measures. If we want to encourage tourism across Wales and in different parts of Wales, we can't have one uniform rule of 182 days across the country. It simply doesn't work. Sam Kurtz also mentioned that it just totally misses the mark, this policy. Properties that were never available for residential use are going to be caught up in these changes as well.

Can I just talk about Mabon ap Gwynfor's very important—[Interruption.]