UK shops could get tax cut after business-rate review

The review, to be announced by Danny Alexander, will look at how businesses use property and how the system can be modernised

Shops in the UK’s high streets could see their taxes cut after next year as ministers launch a review of business rates ahead of this week’s budget. Danny Alexander, the Lib Dem chief secretary to the Treasury, will make the announcement on Monday, calling it the “most wide-ranging review of national business rates in a generation”.

He will say it could pave the way for changes to the way companies across England pay the tax. The review is due to report before the budget in 2016.