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

The Commons voted on 31 March 2025 to reject Lords Amendment 1B to the Non-Domestic Rating (Multipliers and Private Schools) Bill, passing the motion to disagree by 296 ayes to 170 noes. The Lords had sought to exclude hospitals, GP surgeries and other healthcare premises from the higher business rates multiplier that applies to properties with a rateable value of £500,000 or above. By rejecting that amendment, the Commons confirmed that NHS and other healthcare facilities will remain subject to the higher rate when it takes effect from April 2026. The Bill introduces permanent lower business rates multipliers for qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties, funded by a higher multiplier on all properties valued at £500,000 or more. Because many NHS hospitals have rateable values far above that threshold, they fall within the higher-rate category. The Liberal Democrats cited Poole hospital, with a rateable value of £2.1 million, and Royal Bournemouth hospital at £3.3 million, as examples of facilities that would be caught. Critics argued that increasing costs on NHS premises while the government simultaneously claims to protect health spending is contradictory. The government's position is that the higher multiplier must apply universally to fund the retail, hospitality and leisure relief sustainably within the business rates system. The vote divided almost entirely along party lines. All 295 Labour and Labour and Co-operative MPs who voted supported the government motion to reject the Lords amendment, with no Labour MPs voting against. All 95 Conservatives who voted opposed the motion, as did all 61 Liberal Democrats, all four Democratic Unionist Party members who voted, all four Reform UK members who voted, all three Green MPs who voted, and both Ulster Unionist and Traditional Unionist Voice members present. Three independents voted with the government and one voted against. The same pattern recurred across the other related divisions on 31 March, in which the Commons similarly rejected Lords amendments concerning anchor stores, the cliff-edge effect near the £500,000 threshold, and a proposed review of the multiplier's impact.