Business

‘Red wall’ Tories Call On Rishi Sunak To Cut Business Rates

‘Red wall’ Tories call on Rishi Sunak to cut business rates

Conservative MPs in “red wall” seats have urged the chancellor to cut business rates, days after Labour announced it would abolish the tax and overhaul the system.

Tory MPs who won seats in 2019 in Labour’s northern heartlands, including Bishop Auckland’s Dehenna Davison, Leigh’s James Grundy and Lee Anderson from Ashfield, said high street shops were most at risk of closure in seats that Boris Johnson had promised to prioritise with levelling up.

There have long been calls to reform business rates, which raise revenues of about £25bn a year in England. In March 2020 Rishi Sunak promised a review of the tax, which is expected to report this autumn.

The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said this week that a Labour government would freeze business rates and eventually replace them with a new, as yet undefined system that she said would reward investment, with a particular focus on businesses investing in decarbonisation and green technology.

Before the Tory conference this week, the call to slash the tax was backed by the former cabinet minister Esther McVey, who coordinates the Blue Collar Conservative group of working-class backbenchers, as well as the MP Kevin Hollinrake, who has run campaigns to overhaul property taxation including council tax and stamp duty.

Their demand was prompted by data published last week by the British Retail Consortium that suggested four out of five larger retailers would probably have to close more shops unless their business rates bill was reduced.

The group also cited research published by WPI Strategy on the impact of the pandemic on retail, particularly in areas identified for levelling up. More than 8,700 chain stores closed in UK high streets, shopping centres and retail parks in the first six months of 2021.

Constituencies with the highest numbers of vacant shops were also in the areas identified in the report: 20% of units are vacant in the north-east, and 17% in Yorkshire & Humber and the north-west, compared with just 10% in London and 12% in the south-east.

Grundy, who holds Andy Burnham’s former seat in Leigh in Greater Manchester with a slim majority, said: “My constituency is one of the worst affected in the whole of England and Wales. I’m now convinced that bringing these costs down should be an essential part of the levelling-up agenda. Voters in the north trust this Conservative government to transform their prospects. We must deliver.”

In February MPs wrote to Sunak demanding that business rates are reduced from about 50% of market rent to about 35%.

Reeves said the Conservatives should follow Labour’s lead. “The Conservative government should listen, stop with the sticking plasters and come up with real action to support businesses,” she said. “Labour would immediately cut business rates, and in the long run we would scrap them altogether, replacing them with a new system of business taxation fit for the 21st century.”

New data has also revealed how the energy crisis is likely to affect seats that the Tories are aiming to hold. Around one in six households in parliamentary “red wall” areas already have above-average levels of fuel poverty, and they can expect to see the situation worsen as a result of next week’s energy cap rise.

Three of the council areas with the highest proportion of household fuel poverty in England are in the “red wall”: Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Sandwell in the West Midlands. On average just over 15% of households in “red wall” areas are fuel poor, compared with an England average of just above 13%.

Simon Francis, a coordinator of the End Fuel Poverty Coalition, which prepared the data, said: “The latest rises in wholesale prices means that we face the possibility of more households facing fuel poverty than ever before.”

Business

Nigeria begins sales of Crude Oil in Naira

Nigeria has officially commenced the sale of crude oil and refined petroleum products in Naira.

This milestone, announced by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, marks a new chapter in the nation’s economic strategy.

Effective from October 1, 2024, the Federal Executive Council (FEC) directive to trade crude oil and petroleum products in Naira was implemented following a key meeting of the Implementation Committee.

The meeting included prominent stakeholders, such as the Minister of State for Petroleum (Oil), the Special Advisers to the President on Revenue and Energy, executives from the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC), and top representatives of the Dangote Group. The Group Chief Executive Officer (GCEO) of NNPC and its Chief Financial Officer (CFO) were also in attendance, underscoring the initiative’s national significance.

The strategic policy, championed by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led administration, is expected to reshape Nigeria’s economy.

By denominating oil sales in Naira, the country aims to bolster economic growth, enhance stability, and promote self-sufficiency.

The move is seen as a crucial step toward reducing dependency on foreign currencies, positioning Nigeria for long-term success amidst the ever-changing dynamics of global markets.

Business

Electricity Tariff hike: Nigeria’s discos collect N887bn as revenue

Revenue of electricity distribution companies in Nigeria increased to N887.86 billion in the first seven months of 2024 amid an electricity tariff hike.

This is according to the analysis of Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission data on Discos’ commercial performance for the seven months of 2024.

The data showed that out of N1.14 trillion electricity bill issued by Discos to customers, the companies recorded 79.7 percent collection efficiency which stood at N887.86bn in the period under review.

A breakdown of the bill collection by Discos from January to July 2024 includes N95bn, N97bn, N100.44bn, N142.92bn, N191.65bn, N150.86bn and N162.14bn which amounted to N887.86 billion.

Further analysis showed that during the corresponding period in 2023, the companies issued bills totaling N797.18 billion, while they managed to collect N604.15 billion.

This surge in revenue collection is not unconnected to the hike in electricity tariff in April from N66 per kilowatt-hour to N225.

Recall that amid the call for the electricity tariff hike reversal, it was reviewed downward to 206.68 per kilowatt-hour, but was reviewed upward to N209 per kilowatt-hour thereafter.

Though the electricity tariff hike was introduced for customers getting at least 20 hours of power supply, Nigerians have lamented the burden occasioned by the tariff.

The energy cost pain has been exacerbated as Discos migrate more consumers to Band A feeders.

The Minister of Power, Adebayo Adelabu, however, insisted that Nigeria’s electricity tariff is among the cheapest within African countries.

Business

FG unveils seven CNG conversion centres in Ekiti

The Presidential Compressed Natural Gas Initiative (P-CNGi) has unveiled seven centres where commercial transporters can convert their petrol to CNG-powered vehicles in Ekiti.

The Program Director of P-CNGi, Michael Oluwagbemi who spoke during the official unveiling of the centres and handing over of 15 CNG-powered buses to government in Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State capital at the weekend, urged commercial transporters in the state to visit the centers to convert their vehicle free of charge.

He explained that the CNG initiative is cheaper, more convenient, and safer compared to petrol, noting that the administration of President Bola Tinubu is determined to energize the economy through the initiative which he said would create jobs and enhance sustainable development.

Oluwagbemi disclosed that the administration is targeting one million vehicle conversions to CNG by 2027, saying that no fewer than 125 centres have been opened across the country.

He listed the new centres in Ekiti state to include, Femoyo centres, Beijing Universal Limited, ABJ oil and gas, Bovas Company, and NADDC training center in the state capital.

The program director said that the 15 buses donated would be deployed for inter and intra-state transportation towards achieving about 40 percent reduction in the transportation cost and ultimately reduced hike in food items.

According to him, ” the government of President Bola Tinubu through the presidential CNG initiative is committed to ensuring they(transporters) use this for their vehicles because it is cheaper, cleaner and more importantly it is safer and more reliable.

” This is a compressed natural gas, it is not the same you use in your kitchen to cook. It is lighter and stored in a bulletproof container. It is also the fact it is produced in Nigeria and what the president said is that instead of us to continue to import poverty and export jobs. He said will need to look inward and use what God has given us.

” It is about job creation, it is about reducing the cost of transportation and ensuring economic development by moving away from subsidy payment where we were making the few richer.

” This is a more sensible and reliable path for Nigeria in terms of our energy sector, and that is what the president is doing with this initiative.”

Speaking, the state governor, Biodun Oyebanji commended the federal government for the initiative, adding that the state would support the programme towards ensuring that more vehicle owners embrace the CNG conversion.

The governor who was represented by the commissioner for Infrastructure and Public Utilities, Professor Mobolaji Aluko explained that the CNG conversion initiative would help in generating employment opportunities and economic development in line with his shared prosperity agenda for the state.

The state chairman of National Union of Road Transport Workers(NURTW) Joseph Falope and his counterpart in Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria(RTEAN) Sunday Adeola, expressed delight over the initiative, assuring the government that members of their respective unions would take their vehicles for conversion to CNG.

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC), Joseph Osanipin said the council has trained no fewer than 45 technicians across the state on how to convert petrol vehicles to CNG-powered vehicles.