Fifty top retail bosses in joint plea to Chancellor over high street decline
FIFTY of Britain’s top retailers are demanding an overhaul of toxic business rates as the High Street crisis deepens.
The bosses of stores including John Lewis, Sainsbury’s, Dixons Carphone and Marks & Spencer today warn that sky-high rates are killing our town centres.
In a powerful joint letter also backed by Boots, B&Q and Harrods, they have urged Chancellor Sajid Javid to reform the tax before it is too late.
It comes after damning new figures showed that more than one in ten stores is now standing empty, and pointed to a dramatic fall in the number of shoppers.
The crisis has been highlighted by the Mail’s long-running Save Our High Streets campaign, which has called for a level playing field between traditional shops and their newer online rivals.
In Scotland, retailers have urged Finance Secretary Derek Mackay to reverse changes to the business rates supplement, which means firms north of the Border pay double the levy of their counterparts in England and Wales.
Organised by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the joint letter says: ‘Business rates often represent the tipping point between opening a new store or a store’s viability and its closure, with obvious consequences for employment and high street vitality, particularly in the most vulnerable, economically deprived locations.’
The letter writers – who also include bosses of Morrisons, Iceland, Debenhams and Greggs – call for a freeze to spare them from higher rates in coming years.
The SNP doubled the large business supplement in 2016, meaning it is now 2.6p in the pound in Scotland but 1.3p in England. The levy applies to 22,011 properties north of the Border and has cost an additional £195million in the past three years, according to the Scottish Retail Consortium (SRC).
As a result, the Scottish Government has faced repeated calls from businesses to reform business rates – but Mr Mackay has stopped short of an overhaul.
Retailers are fighting to stay afloat as shoppers shun stores to buy goods online. At the same time, sky-high rates and hefty rent costs are eating into their profits and making many once-thriving stores unsustainable.
A total of 10.3 per cent of stores were vacant last month, the highest level for four years according to the BRC. The number of people visiting shops was 1.9 per cent lower in July than a year earlier, the biggest fall for seven years.
Traditional stores have been hit hard by the rise of the internet, with household names such as House of Fraser, Debenhams and HMV rescued after collapsing into administration, and M&S is being forced to shut at least 100 outlets to ward off disaster.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the BRC, said that retailers make up only 5 per cent of the UK economy but pay 25 per cent of business rates.
She said: ‘This disparity is damaging our high streets and harming the communities they support. The fact that over 50 retail chief executives have come together on this issue should send a powerful message to government.’
More than 7,500 stores closed in 2018, analysis by the Local Data Company shows, and the BRC estimates 70,000 jobs were lost.
COULD the alarm bells be ringing any louder on the high street?
Fifty major retailers are pleading with the Government to fix the broken business rate system and bring some relief to our embattled high streets.
One in ten town centre shops are now empty, the worst figure for four years. Businesses are struggling with competition from online shopping, out-of-town outlets with plentiful parking – and penal taxes.
The result? The slow death of oncebustling thoroughfares, blighted by boarded-up premises which in turn drive more potential customers away.
Of course, governments cannot legislate for shopping habits. But do we really want a country dotted with ghost towns? Small business is at the heart of Tory philosophy and must be nurtured. Yet, while retail accounts for 5 per cent of the economy, it pays a quarter of business rate tax, netting the Exchequer £31billion this year.
Our traditional retailers need some TLC. It’s time to give these hard-pressed wealthcreators a break. A tax break, to be exact.