𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Kemi Badenoch accused Labour of a “shameful assault” on our high streets amid warnings of a pandemic-like apocalypse for small businesses. The Conservative leader insisted she can reverse the decline of the nation’s town centres and kickstart a jobs boom.

And she vowed to end the scourge of boarded-up shops which she blames on Labour’s punishing JobsTax and sky-high business rates. Mrs Badenoch told the Express: “This Government is hammering our high streets out of existence.

“I’ve spoken to businesses across the country, all of whom say that Labour’s endless tax rises and red tape are making it so much harder for them to stay afloat. This is a shameful assault on the very heart of so many communities, and it cannot continue.”

Her blistering attack comes as a new report revealed soaring business rates, wage costs and energy prices are killing the high street with 38 shops closing every day.

The Business and Trade Committee inquiry warned that small businesses are facing pressures worse than those experienced during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It said the Government needs to pull its finger out and make major reforms to arrest business closures and decline on the high street – including cutting costs, overhauling business rates and ending late payments.

Liam Byrne, chair of the committee, said a “more coherent and ambitious plan” is needed to support businesses.

Evidence from Sage indicates that small businesses were owed £112 billion in unpaid invoices by the end of 2024.

The report found that 38 stores closed each day on Britain’s high streets in 2024.

It also showed that Labour’s last two Budgets have heaped considerable pressures on small businesses.

The Federation of Small Businesses estimates that tax compliance costs SMEs £25 billion each year.

Furthermore, the National Hair and Beauty Federation reported that recent tax and policy changes have increased average annual costs in the sector by around £25,000 per business.

The British Retail Consortium estimates that November’s Budget added £7 billion to the cumulative cost of policy and regulation affecting retail while UKHospitality said the measures contributed to 69,000 job losses, three times the rate seen in the wider economy.

Other pressures, rocketing electricity prices and soaring retail crime, estimated to cost businesses £4.2 billion a year, have worsened the situation.

Mr Byrne told the Express: “On Britain’s high streets, the signs of a broken system stare us in the face: the butchers, cafés and family shops are gone. Shutters down.

“For Sale signs peel in windows. We don’t need spreadsheets to tell them something has gone badly wrong. We can see it every Saturday morning.

“High streets don’t die by accident. They are allowed to fail. And unless government changes course, the shutters will keep coming down – one shop, one street, one town at a time.”

“Only the Conservatives have a clear plan to save the high street. From cutting energy bills to slashing business rates for thousands of retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, we will get Britain working again.”

Abolishing business rates for 250,000 traders is the centrepiece of Mrs Badenoch’s bold blueprint to revive high streets.

It also includes slashing energy costs, cutting red tape to help shops flourish and increasing police numbers.

She insists the four-pronged plan, to be introduced if the Tories win the next election, will help revive town centres which have taken a battering in recent years as shoppers turn to online retailers.

“Only the Conservatives have a clear plan to save the high street,” Mrs Badenoch added. “From cutting energy bills to slashing business rates for thousands of retail, hospitality and leisure businesses, we will get Britain working again.”

The report comes just weeks after Labour was forced to make another humiliating U-turn with a climbdown on tax hikes for pubs.

Changes to the business rates regime had left thousands of pubs, hotels and restaurants facing staggering cost increases.

Chancellor Ms Reeves announced £4.3billion in “transitional relief” at the Budget, leading many bosses to believe they had been given a good deal.

But the small print revealed the average pub faces a 15% rise in business rates in April, 48% next year, and 76% in 2028.

The scale of the increases triggered a backlash, with more than 1,500 landlords reportedly banning Labour MPs.

Several once-thriving retail brands fell into administration in 2025 including well-known names such as Claire’s, Bodycare and Poundland, with hundreds of stores and jobs put at risk.

More than 13,000 high street units were shuttered for good in 2024, according to analysis by the Centre for Retail Research, and it is feared that the toll of shops which locked their doors for the last time in 2025 will be even higher.

More shops are also set to shut this year, with retailers hammered by Labour increasing the minimum wage and employers’ national insurance contributions.

The government insists it is “restoring stability, protecting pubs and small businesses, and reform business rates so high street shops are supported rather than punished.”