Under the Conservatives, Britain’s high streets are on the decline. With Rishi Sunak, small business and consumers alike are struggling with the soaring cost of living, with eye-watering mortgage and rent payments contributing to businesses closing and shops boarded up.
Since 2022 alone, 385 towns have seen their last bank branch close, or announce that they will be closing imminently – leaving local people and businesses without any options for local banking.
What’s more, there are now record levels of shoplifting – up more than 30% in a single year – and persistently high levels of anti-social behaviour, with a third of the public witnessing or experiencing it in their local area over the past 12 months.
As part of Labour’s missions to get Britain building again and take back our streets, we will work to rejuvenate our high streets and bring economic growth back to towns across the country.
- Tackle anti-social behaviour and shoplifting – so that people feel safe when they go out to shop, eat or socialise in their local high street, putting neighbourhood police and PCSOs back on the beat, paid for by cutting police bureaucracy and outside contracts, and scrapping the Tories’ £200 rule which stops shoplifting being investigated.
- Roll out banking hubs – thriving high streets need banking services for local businesses and customers. Labour will roll out banking hubs to guarantee face-to-face banking in every community boosting local high streets and shops. The cost of opening and operating the hubs will be met collectively by the banks.
- Replace business rates – Labour will replace business rates with a new system of business property taxation which rebalances the burden and levels the playing field between our high streets and online giants.
- Stamp out late payments – small and independent retailers shouldn’t be forced to wait months to be paid for work by big clients. Labour would introduce tough new laws to stamp out late payments and make sure more money gets to high street firms.
- Revamp empty shops, pubs and community spaces – people won’t visit high streets blighted by unsightly boarded up shops. Labour will give communities a strong new ‘right to buy’ beloved community assets to revamp high streets and end the blight of empty premises.
Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for East Wiltshire, Rob Newman, said:
“High streets are the backbone of our local economy, and the centre of our communities – and they are a lifeline for many. But under the Conservatives, they are in undeniable decline.
“Banks are abandoning the high street, local markets are struggling, and businesses are having to cope with the crippling cost of business rates.
“It’s time for a Government that’s on the side of those businesses, who have been hit so hard by the economic chaos the Tories have created; and on the side of those local communities who depend on a thriving and bustling high street to be their beating heart.”
