Labour Gets A Round Of Pub Support In
Newscast
BBC
4.3 • 6.6K Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2026
⏱️ 39 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, the chancellor has announced a package of support for pubs and music venues after the government was forced to U-turn on their plans to bump up business rates.
BBC Business editor Simon Jack joins Adam to explain the measures, whilst political correspondent Joe Pike drops by to unpack the government’s other big announcement of the day - capping ground rents at £250 a year for leaseholders.
Plus, the PM is on his way to Beijing. Ahead of his visit, Starmer said the UK cannot afford to ignore the economic opportunities presented by working with China. His visit comes after one of the country’s top generals was purged by the government. Our China correspondent Laura Bicker gives Adam a rundown of what to expect.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:06.0 | Hello, we're going to start with some news of a bonus newscast listening opportunity. |
| 0:11.0 | We're going to be on Radio 4 on Wednesday, the 28th of January, at 11 o'clock in the morning. |
| 0:17.2 | And it's quite funny because we thought, has there been so much news already this year, we could do the newscast review of the year 11 months early. |
| 0:25.3 | So we're going to try and see if that joke will sustain a whole 45 minutes of radio on Radio 4. |
| 0:31.6 | So you can listen to that. |
| 0:32.9 | Or, first of all, you could listen to a classic episode of Newscast, which is coming your way right now. Newscast. Newscast from the BBC. Fat boy sliver me in the classroom doing our violin lessons. I was the tattle tail in the class. Can I have an apology, please? I trust almost nobody. That daddy has to sometimes do strong language. Next time in Moscow. I feel delulu with no salulu. Take me down to Downey Street. Let's go |
| 0:56.4 | have a tour. Blimey. Hello, it's Adam in the newscast studio and we're doing a bit of a |
| 1:06.1 | throwback today because one of the major news stories in British politics today is about |
| 1:10.6 | pubs and how much they pay for business rates. |
| 1:13.6 | So we thought we would reopen the old newscast pub, which has been shuttered for several years now, the rat and parrot. |
| 1:20.6 | It's open again! |
| 1:23.6 | And just to recreate the whole pub atmosphere, I'm now going to wander around and see who I meet and what interesting news stories they can bring us. |
| 1:31.8 | And who is that? I see a table by the door. |
| 1:35.4 | It is business editor Simon Jack, who is here to bring us news of the government U-turn on business rates for pubs. |
| 1:42.7 | Simon, cheers. |
| 1:43.9 | Hello, Adam. Please, can we go back to business rates school agains. Simon, cheers. Hello, Adam. |
| 1:44.7 | Please, can we go back to business rates school again before we dive into today's news? |
| 1:49.5 | So business rates, the best way to think about them, I think, is like council tax for businesses. |
| 1:54.5 | It's the rates they pay to make use of the amenities, the water, the parking, the blah, blah, blah, from which they benefit. |
| 2:01.4 | And for that, they pay an annual charge. And it's made up of two things. There's a percentage |
| 2:06.3 | of the value, the rateable value of the property. So you apply that percentage, or the multiplier, |
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