Restaurants: Plaid call for U-turn on business rate tax hike

The Brass Beetle is among restaurants that have announced they are shutting their doors

First Minister Mark Drakeford has rejected calls to not cut business rate relief for shops and restaurants.

The Welsh government is reducing the relief for retail and hospitality from 75% to 40% - despite it remaining at 75% in England.

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth said it was a "kick in the teeth" for the sector.

But Mr Drakeford accused the Plaid leader of having no answers to where the money could come from.

He also defended cuts to Heathcare Inspectorate Wales.

The change was proposed as part of the Welsh government budget, in a bid to prop up the NHS and councils.

Cuts are being seen in every department, with big savings in rural affairs, arts and culture, to try to prioritise frontline services.

The cut to business rate relief has been criticised by the hospitality sector, following a spate of closures in Cardiff including the Brass Beetle, Kindle and the Conway pub.

• Rising costs see string of restaurants close

• Welsh pubs and shops face tax hike to prop up NHS

In the Senedd on Tuesday Mr ap Iorwerth said that Welsh hospitality leaders had expressed "frustrations and fears about the future of the sector".

Mr ap Iorwerth said he was worried that businesses were closing as a result.

"Putting a safety net in place one minute and then pulling it away when times are particularly tough isn't a coherent approach," he said.

But Mr Drakeford said: "We will not be reconsidering that decision, unless Plaid Cymru can tell me where the money that has been diverted from business rate relief to support many other programmes, including many of the other programmes that, week after week, Plaid Cymru members will tell me we have to find more money for."

He said the government was "providing a pathway out of the subsidy for the sector, and I think we have made the right decision".