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Exclusive: Andy Burnham has left the door open to supporting community pharmacies with a business rates exemption or discount and funded tax cuts to help them cope with staff wage increases if he becomes prime minister.

Burnham, who is expected to replace Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street this month, has publicly expressed support for local high street businesses and last week insisted there was “some room” for “movement on tax” during an interview on LBC.

That, Burnham said, included the possibility of increasing business rates on warehouses to fund tax cuts for pubs and some high street businesses.

The former Greater Manchester mayor has also emphasised his support for businesses that are “at the heart” of local communities such as pharmacies. Just a few days before he was sworn in as the MP for Makerfield, Burnham said he would “fight to bring a new pharmacy and GP surgery to Hindley Green”. 

In a statement on Facebook on June 17, he said: “For many growing up and living in Hindley Green, access to healthcare meant a trip elsewhere, never on your own doorstep. That's not good enough and it's a small example of how towns like ours keep getting overlooked. Because real change means proper investment in the places that have gone without it for too long.”

When asked if he would fund tax cuts for pharmacies and exempt them from business rates or give them a discount, a spokesperson for Burnham told Independent Community Pharmacist: “Andy knows how much community pharmacies matter to communities, and the vital role they place as healthcare providers.

“In his own constituency of Makerfield, he’s been outspoken about the need to deliver a pharmacy to Hindley Green, to ensure residents there have access to the care they need. He has been clear that businesses at the heart of our communities deserve more support and that will be the approach he takes into government.”

The community pharmacy network in England, already operating to a £2.6 billion funding black hole, is having to deal with rising overheads and other costs, such as national living wage and national minimum wage increases.

The National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has urged Labour to exempt independent pharmacies from business rates and warned “wage inflation” was forcing them to reduce their opening hours and staff numbers.

The NPA said its survey last month showed the national living wage “added to existing financial pressures” for 90 per cent of independent pharmacies.

In January, the Government announced pubs and live music venues will get a 15 per cent business rates discount. It also said their business rates will be frozen in real terms in 2027-28 and 2028-29. The pharmacy industry has pressed Labour to include pharmacies in that support package.