High street high noon
BRITISH Home Stores. M&S. Toys ‘R’ Us. Debenhams. Once, this would have been an illustrious roll-call of high street giants.
Today, it is a desolate roster of the appalling damage inflicted on our oncethriving town centres.
Thousands of shops have closed in recent years, with retailers struggling to make a profit or – in the worst cases – going bust.
Inflaming the crisis are suffocating business rates, which Tesco chief Dave Lewis today says are ‘not fit for purpose’.
Based on the notional rental value of a property, bricks-and-mortar retailers are hit hardest by this archaic tax.
With shoppers increasingly buying goods from internet firms which operate out-oftown warehouses, the high street shoulders the greatest burden – leading to boardedup stores and job losses.
So how to level the playing field? Mr Lewis suggests a small tax on sales of online goods, funding a hefty cut in business rates – throwing retailers a £1.5billion lifeline.
Communities Minister Jake Berry is aware of the woes. He wants councils to scrap exorbitant parking fees which discourage so many from going into town at all.
Both are worthy propositions. The Mail’s Save Our High Streets campaign has demanded radical action. If the Government doesn’t move swiftly, many more shops – and jobs – will be lost. IN a triumph for the Mail’s acclaimed campaign against plastic waste, ministers are pressing ahead with a new tax to encourage recycling – a world first. They are acting after unprecedented public demand to reduce single-use plastics, which pollute the environment and choke wildlife. Firms that make or import ‘virgin’ plastic with less than 30 per cent recycled content must pay up. It will help make our country – and planet – a greener place to live. ONE of the biggest successes of our age is that people are living longer. So it is shocking to learn that premature deaths from heart attacks and strokes have risen for the first time in 50 years. This is the deadly toll of Britain’s obesity crisis – unhealthy lifestyles reversing decades of medical progress. Yes, the state can introduce health campaigns and ‘fat taxes’. But responsibility for this wholly preventable epidemic must lie with individuals. The facts are stark: The obese risk not just their health but their lives.