BURNHAM CUTS RATES FOR PUBS – Rates cut also for Clubs, Music Venues in England BY 20% 

Andy Burnham has announced he will cut business rates for pubs, in a move one of his own ministers admits is not fully funded.

The Prime Minister said on Thursday that the levy would be cut by 20 per cent for pubs, clubs and live music venues from April.

However, just an hour later, Emma Reynolds, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, admitted the two proposed sources of funding for the policy – which was expected to save venues £1,000 a year on average – were still being looked at.

It is the third time in as many days that Mr Burnham has announced a new policy, only for a row over how it will be funded to break out almost immediately.

Downing Street claimed it would fund the £100m cut to business rates on pubs in two ways: raising taxes on online tech giants and their warehouses in Britain, and stripping reliefs from vape shops, which it said did not make a “positive contribution” to communities.