What became of those promises, Mr Javid?

CAST your mind back to May 2015 and that first, magnificent speech made by Sajid Javid after his appointment as Business Secretary immediately after the last election.

Speaking in Bristol, where he grew up, he spoke movingly about his immigrant father’s progress from driving buses to running a small business selling clothes in the shop beneath the family flat, where the young Sajid was proud to help out.

He went on to promise that the newly elected Government, with the first Tory majority in 18 years, would be a true friend to enterprises like his father’s, slashing red tape and taxes.

But look at Mr Javid today. Now Local Government Secretary, he is the man overseeing the introduction of the revalued business rates, which will force more than 500,000 firms to pay up to 300 per cent extra from April.

Far from speaking up for those who will suffer from the new rates, which are based on notional local rental values for commercial property, he now seeks to defend the indefensible and bury debate beneath a blizzard of highly questionable statistics and technicalities.

Yes, it is cause for celebration that firms in areas where property prices have fallen will pay less (though it is far from clear precisely how many will benefit).

But this is no comfort to shops, pubs and other businesses in areas where rents have risen sharply – particularly in London and the South East – many of which could be forced to close.

After all, as Mr Javid must be well aware, till receipts don’t rise and fall according to fluctuations in local property prices. Indeed, a highly complex system of reliefs aside, this iniquitous tax takes no account of companies’ ability to pay.

Worse still, some of the biggest gainers from the revaluation will be out-of-town hypermarkets and online giants, such as Sports Direct and tax-dodging Amazon, which have done so much to destroy the traditional High Street.

This is a tax that completely ignores the realities of running a small business in the 21st century. In his Commons statement today, Mr Javid has the chance to honour his promises of May 2015. He must seize it.