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PM says there will be business rates help for hard-hit firms

Firms hit hardest by the business rates rise will get "appropriate relief", Theresa May has insisted.

Amid growing pressure on the Government to act over the threat of increases, which will hit 400% in some areas, the Prime Minister promised there would be help.

Mrs May told MPs (BSE: MPSLTD.BO - news) she had instructed the Chancellor and Communities Secretary to make sure there is "appropriate relief" for firms "particularly adversely" affected by the reforms.

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Conservative MPs have accused the Government of "spinning the numbers" to claim changes will "save businesses money when it doesn't".

Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions, Mrs May said: "I recognise that there has been particular concern that there will be some small businesses that are particularly adversely affected by the result of this revaluation.

"That's why I've asked the Chancellor and the Communities Secretary to make sure there is appropriate relief in those hardest cases."

A quarter of firms, many of which are small independent shops on local high streets, are facing significant rises in business rates in the first revaluation for seven years.

Critics claim it is wrong these firms should be hit by big increases when internet retailers such as Amazon continue to benefit from lower rates on out-of-town warehouses.

Chancellor Philip Hammond has said he is in "listening mode" but has not formally committed to introducing measures in the Budget to soften the blow.

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The Prime Minister's spokesman said that £3.6bn had already been put by as a transitional fund to help firms make the step up to the new rates.

It is this that Mr Hammond and Communities Secretary Sajid Javid have been asked to look at ways of spending to help, the spokesman clarified.

Mr Javid has been accused of attempting to mislead MPs after sending out an analysis of the increases that they said bears no resemblance to what businesses in their constituencies are actually facing.

He is expected to address MPs on the issue in the House of Commons later.

The chairman of the Treasury Select Committee, Conservative MP Andrew Tyrie, has written to Mr Hammond raising concerns over the impact of the business rate rises.

In his letter, he said there are "several problems with the current proposals", the first of which he explains is "the impact of the revaluation on smaller firms, especially if large, out-of-town premises are benefiting at the expense of small, high street firms".

Mr Tyrie said his committee will be taking evidence of the impact of the rises on the economy after the Budget.