Today’s new analysis from the BBC has revealed that after two years of Covid related lockdowns, there were 9,300 fewer retail outlets in March 2022 than March 2020 due to closures of banks, clothes shops, and department stores. As high street retailers struggle to compete because of high overheads, the Office for National Statistics found that online shopping has seen a tenfold increase since 2006, now amounting to over a quarter of all retail sales.
 
Paddy Lillis – Usdaw General Secretary says: “The current business rates system is not fit for purpose, because it places bricks and mortar retailers at a significant disadvantage to online retail. Action is needed to level the playing field and that need is writ large in today’s BBC analysis. So it was deeply disappointing that the
Government rejected an online sales tax in their Autumn Budget, which could have funded substantial reductions in business rates, allowing high street retailers to innovate, grow, protect and create jobs.
 
“We urgently need to level the playing field between online and bricks-and-mortar retail, something Usdaw and many major retailers have consistently called on the Government to do. A 1% online sales levy could raise around £1.5 billion and fund a 20% cut in the current outdated and imbalanced commercial property tax. A reduction in business rates would support retailers to invest in our high streets and in the workforce, having a positive impact on communities and the wider economy.
 
“The Government so far has opted for sticking plaster measures that do not offer a long-term fix to a long-term problem of a retail industry in crisis. In contrast, Labour is committed to fundamental reform of unfair business taxes and will provide much needed support for our high streets up and down the country, to ensure that online giants pay their fair share.”
 
Notes for editors:
 
Usdaw (Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers) is the UK's fifth biggest trade union with around 360,000 members. Most Usdaw members work in the retail sector, but the union also has many members in transport, distribution, food manufacturing, chemical industry and other trades.
 
BBC’s high street analysis: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-63799670
 
For Usdaw press releases visit: http://www.usdaw.org.uk/news and you can follow us on Twitter @UsdawUnion