Labour has vowed to overhaul the business rates system in a bid to revitalise the high street, if it wins the general election.
The party said it would replace the current system with a new one that will “level the playing field between the high street and online giants”. However, it did not go into detail about what the new system will entail.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said that “hard-working small businesses have been held back” by the current system and criticised the Conservatives’ failure to “fix” it.
Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves told the BBC that Labour “want to reform the business rate system in a way that reduces the costs for small businesses and high streets, ensuring that some of the big multinationals and tech companies pay their fair share”.
The business rates system has long been criticised as unfair and in need of reform by retail leaders. Just last week, bosses including Majestic CEO John Colley and Card Factory’s Darcy Willson-Rymer told Retail Gazette the next government needs to tackle the much-maligned tax.
Colley said: “The business rates regime is a perennial problem that has become archaic in a world of multichannel retailing, and has been a contributing factor in the demise of a number of bricks-and-mortar businesses over the last few years. Retailers have long been calling for fundamental reform of this tax and I would urge the next government to finally deliver on this.”
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Labour has also pledged to help the high street by tackling anti-social behaviour through the introduction of new town centre police patrols.
The party’s manifesto will also include laws that stamp down on violence against shop workers. It comes as shoplifting reached the highest level since records began last year, according to new data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
Labour has long campaigned with shop workers union Usdaw to make violence against shop workers a stand-alone offence. The government agreed to include this in the Criminal Justice bill this year, however, it was ditched when Rishi Sunak called the election last month.
Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper vowed to make this law if Labour is elected. She told The Mirror: “Labour is determined we will pass a new law to make a specific offence of assaults and abuse against shop workers and to make sure it’s taken seriously by the police.”
Cooper also said the party wants to stop the police ignoring thefts under £200, which has led to shoplifters aiming to take goods just under that threshold before moving on to different stores.
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