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
Tinubu increases 2025 budget to N54.2tn

President Bola Tinubu has raised the proposed 2025 budget from ₦49.7 trillion to ₦54.2 trillion, citing additional revenues generated by key government agencies.
The President conveyed the budget adjustment in separate letters sent to both the Senate and the House of Representatives, which were read during plenary today by the Senate President, Godswill Akpabio.
According to President Tinubu, the increase was driven by ₦1.4 trillion in additional revenue from the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), ₦1.2 trillion from the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), and ₦1.8 trillion generated by other government-owned agencies.
Following the announcement, the Senate President has referred the President’s request to the Senate Committee on Appropriations for urgent consideration.
He assured lawmakers that the budget would be finalised and passed before the end of February.
With this development, the National Assembly is expected to fast-track deliberations to ensure timely approval and implementation of the 2025 budget.
Business
NMDPRA seals off 19 illegal LPG depot in Delta

The Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, NMDPRA, has sealed 19 illegal Liquified Petroleum Gas, LPG, and category D cooking gas outlets in Delta State.
Speaking with newsmen on Tuesday in Warri, Coordinator, NMDPRA in Delta, Victor Ohwodiasa said the illegal gas outlets were sealed within the past two weeks.
He said they were shut in Orerokpe, Ogwashi-Ukwu and Warri and its environs of the state.
The category D class of LPG operators are the ones within localities that refill gas from licensed gas plants for customers to pick up from them.
Ohwodiasa said the illegal gas outlets were shut over offences ranging from lack of prerequisite approvals to operating such facilities in unsafe locations.
“During the operations, about 28 illegal outlets were spotted by the authorities. We tried to see if it is possible to have them regularised as they were wrongly sited.
“The outlet that was sealed in Ogwashi-Ukwu was a five metric tonnes refilling plant constructed on a roadside closed to a high tension cables.
“The authority looked at the environment, it was wrongly sited on a right of way and has no approval. It was sealed and a relocation order issued immediately.
“Other offenders were the ones doing what we called, “decanting”, meaning bottle to bottle transfer. We do not allow that.
“What they are expected to do is “bottle swap”, bring your empty cylinder and go with a filled one,” he said.
The coordinator said the essence of the exercise was not to frustrate the small scale gas business owners but to ensure they operate in a safe and secured environment.
Ohwodiasa appealed to landlords not to allocate portions to the LPG category D operators who want to do illegal business on their premises or properties.
According to him, the essence is to prevent possible fire outbreak that could destroy lives and properties of the operators and the neighbours.
He said that NMDPRA was committed to ensuring lives and properties were adequately protected.
“Imaging someone storing cooking gas close to where welding operation is taking place or where a woman is frying beans cake or roasting corn. Once there is a leakage, the resultant effect will be catastrophic.
“If the operator of the illegal outlet does not appreciate his life, it is our duty to ensure he does not kill himself and others by illegally operating such a facility,” he said.
Ohwodiasa said the regulatory authority would continue to sustain the exercise in the state and assured that anybody found wanting would face the full wrath of the law.
He also said that any offender that refused to relocate his facility would be handed over to the relevant security agencies for prosecution.
The coordinator appealed to the public to report anyone transferring cooking gas from one cylinder to another to the NMDPRA for prompt action, “help us to serve you better”.
Ohwodiasa while assuring that the regulatory body would continue to sensitise the operators, said the authority had annual stakeholders engagement with the gas plant owners and the category D operators.
He also said the regulatory authority organised jingles on Radio and Television stations to educate people on the best ways to handle cooking gas because of its volatility.
The coordinator thanked the Chief Executive of NMDPRA, Ahmed Faruok for his consistent support for the state’s operations.
Business
FG bans export of crude oil allocated to domestic refineries

The Federal Government has banned the export of crude oil meant for domestic refineries in the country.
About 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day meant for domestic refining have been finding their way to the international market as producers and traders shortchange the policy for quick foreign exchange proceeds.
Acting through the upstream sector regulator, the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, the government warned that it will henceforth deny export permits for crude oil cargoes intended for domestic refining.
The commission in a statement in Abuja, insisted that any changes to cargoes designated for domestic refining must receive express approval from its chief executive.
In a letter dated February 2, 2025, addressed to exploration and production companies and their equity partners, the commission’s Chief Executive Officer, Engr. Gbenga Komolafe said diverting crude oil meant for local refineries is a violation of the extant laws of the country.
At a meeting last weekend, attended by more than 50 critical industry players, both refiners and producers blamed each other for inconsistencies in the implementation of the Domestic Crude Supply Obligation, DCSO, policy.
While refiners claimed that producers are not meeting supply terms and preferred to sell crude outside, forcing them to look elsewhere for feedstock, producers countered that refiners hardly meet commercial and operational terms, forcing them to explore other markets elsewhere to avoid unnecessary operational bottlenecks.
They, however, agreed that the regulator has put in place appropriate measures for effective implementation of the law.
The regulator cautioned against any further breaches from either party, and advised refiners to adhere to international best practices in procurement and operational matters.
The commission reminded producers not to vary the conditions stated in the DCSO policy without obtaining express permission from the chief executive before selling crude outside the agreed framework.
Komolafe referenced Section 109 of the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, which aims to ensure stable supply of crude to domestic refineries and strengthen the nation’s energy security.
He said NUPRC would, henceforth, strictly enforce the policy regarding implementation and defaults by oil companies.
He stated that significant regulatory actions had already been taken by the commission, in line with enabling laws to enforce compliance with the DCSO.
These actions, according to him, include development and signing of the Production Curtailment and Domestic Crude Oil Supply Obligation Regulation 2023, as well as the creation of the DCSO framework and procedure guide for implementation.
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