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The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) chief executive Henry Gregg has criticised Labour after it unveiled a three-year business rates support package today for pubs and music venues in England but not pharmacies.

The package, which is worth £80 million in the first year, will give pubs and music venues a 15 per cent discount on their business rates bills from April and no increases for two years.

Announcing the package, which represented a U-turn by Labour, Dan Tomlinson, the exchequer secretary to the Treasury, described pubs as “cornerstone of so many communities” while the Government said the number of pubs had fallen by about 7,000 since 2010.

Gregg said Labour’s announcement was “an insult” to pharmacy owners across England struggling to keep their businesses open because of increasing overheads and inadequate Government funding.

“It’s simply outrageous that the Government should offer business rate relief to pubs but ignore pharmacies that play a vital health role on thousands of our high streets,” he said.

“This increase will push some pharmacies to the brink of collapse. Pharmacies are essential to their communities but the government have taken a decision today to prioritise pubs over the health needs of millions of people who use pharmacies every day.”

The NPA said the average pharmacy’s business rates bill has increased by 140 per cent between 2024-25 and 2025-26.

Accusing Labour of treating pharmacists like “second-class citizens in our health service", Gregg said: “It’s an insult to hard-pressed pharmacists who are still struggling under the effects of historic NHS underfunding that simply isn’t sufficient to pay inflated business rates, medicine prices and their other bills.

“Pharmacies are not like pubs, cafes or restaurants. They receive 90 per cent of their funding from the NHS and cannot simply increase their prices for the nations prescriptions to absorb this eye watering increase.”