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Pubs are important community hubs in York, and across the UK they provide 850,000 jobs. We must try to ensure that pubs continue to play their important role in British life.

Before the Spring Budget, a number of organisations joined CAMRA in calling for support for pubs facing significant increases in their business rates due to the revaluation which comes into force in April. I supported this call as I know the detrimental impact that this is having on pubs.

Rachael Maskell MP for York Central joined the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) yesterday in Westminster to demand the Government introduces a full ban on the ivory trade.

Following the recent announcement about the closure of Burgins Perfumary, a business which has been trading in York for 137 years, Rachael Maskell challenged the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, to say when he will begin an urgent consultation on business rates to help traders in York.  In his Spring Budget the Chancellor promised that “a new preferred approach to business rates” would be consulted on but this has not happened.