Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill: Motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 1

Parliament voted on 25 March 2025 to reject a Lords amendment to the Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill that would have exempted large healthcare properties, including NHS hospitals and GP surgeries, from a new higher business rates multiplier. The government motion to disagree with Lords Amendment 1 passed by 316 votes to 183. The bill introduces a permanent lower business rates multiplier for retail, hospitality and leisure properties with rateable values below £500,000, funded by a higher multiplier applied to all properties at or above that threshold. Lords Amendment 1 would have carved healthcare properties out of that higher multiplier. The government argued that removing any category from the higher multiplier would undermine the sustainable funding of the relief below. Ministers noted that only around 350 health-sector properties sit at or above the £500,000 threshold, of which 290 are NHS hospitals and 30 are GP surgeries or health centres, and said the spending review would address any cost pressures on public sector bodies separately. The vote divided sharply along party lines. All 314 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted supported the government. All 102 Conservative MPs who voted, all 64 Liberal Democrats, all five Reform UK members, all five Democratic Unionist Party members and all four Green MPs voted against. No significant cross-party rebellion was visible on either side. The bill subsequently returned to the Lords, where related amendments were again considered and further motions to disagree were voted on in a ping-pong session on 31 March 2025.