The planned rise in business rates will kill off a third of independent retailers, Mary Portas, a retail expert, has warned the government.
Portas, once hired by David Cameron’s administration to find a way of saving Britain’s high streets, branded the looming hike “madness” and urged Prime Minister Theresa May to scrap the system completely.
She said the controversial revaluation “will be the single biggest blow to independent shops since the financial crisis” of 2008.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, Portas said businesses risked being “destroyed” by increases in their bills of up to 245%.
She said: “In 2011 I was commissioned by the government to look at how we could save our high streets. Six years on and we were really making progress. So it’s strange to watch our leaders preparing to impose a new business rates revaluation that will cripple high street shops. The tax bill, which will hit retailers from April, will be the single biggest blow to independent shops since the financial crisis. I would estimate that at least a third of them will die off.”
