Business rates rise would put hundreds of big shops at risk, say UK retailers
Up to 400 large shops are at risk of closure with as many as 100,000 jobs at risk if the government goes ahead with plans to hit stores with higher business rates, retailers have warned,Some of the UK’s largest retail premises, including supermarkets and department stores, would face higher property tax charges under new rules being considered by the government before November’s budget,The higher charges for larger sites, including warehouses, offices and other premises, are intended to pay for discounts for smaller business properties, such as independent retailers, cafes and pubs, after the Labour government pledged to make the business rates system fairer,The bosses of big retailers including John Lewis, Lidl and B&Q met the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, last week to ask her to exclude retail from the surcharge,The new rules are targeted at all business premises with a rateable value – a figure linked to rents – of more than £500,000.
The surcharge could apply to 4,000 large retail outlets, according to the British Retail Consortium, which represents most large retail groups.The BRC looked at how a similar level of increased costs had affected retail businesses in the past to estimate how many of sites might be forced to close under the planned tax change.It concluded that 400 big stores could close.It said retailers might also raise prices or cut jobs in order to protect their profits.Some of the potentially affected retail outlets are so-called anchor tenants, big retailers that play a key role in attracting visitors to high streets and shopping centres, and driving trade to nearby cafes, pubs and other retailers.
Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the BRC, said: “Britain’s largest shops are magnets, pulling people into high streets, shopping centres and retail parks, supporting thousands of surrounding cafes, restaurants and smaller and independent shops.After years of rising costs, far too many stores have disappeared – leaving behind empty shells that once thrived at the heart of our communities.”Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionReeves wrote to ministers this week, saying: “We want to see thriving high streets and small businesses investing in their future, not held back by outdated rules or strangled by red tape.“Our economy isn’t broken, but it does feel stuck.That’s why growth is our number one mission.
”The chancellor indicated that the government was considering changes to business rates to tackle so called “cliff edges”, which can lead to a leap in taxes when a small business wants to expand.Her comments accompanied an interim report on government plans for business rate changes, published on Thursday, which included changing the way rates were calculated and improving support for investment in premises.Kate Nicholls, the chair of the UKHospitality, which represents thousands of restaurants, pubs and cafes, said: “For too long, the broken business rates system has unfairly punished hospitality businesses and I’m pleased that the government is taking action to reform it.“These measures to remove punitive cliff-edges and barriers to investment are positive and will help to rebalance the system, as will the government’s commitment to lower business rates bills for hospitality businesses.”
Skip Apple’s new iPhone – five tips to make your old phone feel new again
On Tuesday, Apple announced the iPhone 17 series with the usual spate of new features, including a thinner design, improved displays and a camera with 4x optical zoom. If you’ve been getting frustrated with your old phone, or just tired of it, the lithe new model may look exactly like the device you need to launch your budding photographic career, reconnect with long-lost friends and maybe even save your life in an emergency.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more
How to Save the Internet by Nick Clegg review – spinning Silicon Valley
Nick Clegg chooses difficult jobs. He was the UK’s deputy prime minister from 2010 to 2015, a position from which he was surely pulled in multiple directions as he attempted to bridge the divide between David Cameron’s Conservatives and his own Liberal Democrats. A few years later he chose another challenging role, serving as Meta’s vice-president and then president of global affairs from 2018 until January 2025, where he was responsible for bridging the very different worlds of Silicon Valley and Washington DC (as well as other governments). How to Save the Internet is Clegg’s report on how he handled that Herculean task, along with his ideas for how to make the relationships between tech companies and regulators more cooperative and effective in the future.The main threat that Clegg addresses in the book is not one caused by the internet; it is the threat to the internet from those who would regulate it
Apple debuts thinner, $999 iPhone Air at ‘awe-dropping’ annual product event
Apple debuted its latest iPhone on Tuesday, trumpeting the smartphone’s slimmest design yet. The device, named the iPhone Air, is one of several upgrades the company unveiled at its annual product showcase, promoted with the title “awe-dropping”. The event kicked off at 10am PT with the company’s CEO, Tim Cook, speaking in front of its Cupertino headquarters.“Design is at the core of everything we do,” Cook said. The CEO touted the company’s thin iPhone, which sports a width of 5
How Google dodged a major breakup – and why OpenAI is to thank for it
Hello, and welcome to TechScape. I’m your host, Blake Montgomery, writing to you as I finish the audiobook version of Don DeLillo’s White Noise, which I can’t say I found compelling.In tech – artificial intelligence is having its day in court with an 11th-hour appearance in Google’s landmark antitrust trial and Anthropic’s major settlement with book authors.Google dodged a catastrophic breakup, and it has its biggest competitor to thank for that, according to the judge who could have forced the tech giant to sell off Chrome, the most popular web browser in the world, and perhaps Android, the world’s most widely used mobile operating system.Amit Mehta, who ruled in 2024 that Google had built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the internet search business, said last week that he would not force the most drastic remedy on the tech giant
The women in love with AI companions: ‘I vowed to my chatbot that I wouldn’t leave him’
Experts are concerned about people emotionally depending on AI, but these women say their digital companions are misunderstoodThe Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.A young tattoo artist on a hiking trip in the Rocky Mountains cozies up by the campfire, as her boyfriend Solin describes the constellations twinkling above them: the spidery limbs of Hercules, the blue-white sheen of Vega.The Guardian’s journalism is independent
Meta hid harms to children from VR products, whistleblowers allege
A group of six whistleblowers have come forward with allegations of a cover-up of harm to children on Meta’s virtual reality devices and apps. They say the social media company, which owns Facebook and Instagram, and offers a line of VR headsets and games, deleted or doctored internal safety research that showed children being exposed to grooming, sexual harassment and violence in its 3D realms.“Meta knew that underage children were using its products, but figured, ‘Hey, kids drive engagement,’ and it was making them cash,” Jason Sattizahn, one of the whistleblowers who worked on the company’s VR research, said in a statement. “Meta has compromised their internal teams to manipulate research and straight-up erase data that they don’t like.”Sattizahn and the other whistleblowers, all current or former Meta employees, have disclosed these findings and a trove of documents to Congress, according to the Washington Post, which first reported the allegations
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