Missed opportunity in Autumn Statement says KBSA
17Jul '14
KBSA CEO Graham Ball has welcomed today’s autumn statement as a positive one with some measures that will help KBB retailers but criticised the government for missing an opportunity to help the high street by not going far enough in some areas.
“Today’s statement shows good progress on some of the major issues that make doing business more difficult or expensive for KBB retailers,” says Graham. “The capping of business rates and discounts for some retail premises and confirmation that the planned rise of 2p per litre on fuel for next year has been scrapped are all welcome measures.
“The scrapping of Employer National Insurance contributions on 1.5 million jobs for young people is also to be applauded as this will help companies bring on board new staff.
“However I still believe that it was fundamentally wrong to postpone the business rate review in 2015 until 2017 and they could have reversed that decision today. This is not good news for the high street as retailers will continue to pay business rates based on “top of the market 2008 rents” for a further two years.
“It is disgraceful that this was not changed, the high street could recover far more quickly if reality were to set in on this issue.”
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