My thoughts on the King’s Speech and what it means for UK high streets, on behalf of British BIDs

Following Labour’s pre-election plan to restore Britain’s high streets, the King’s Speech indicates expectations may need to be tempered on the speed of delivery

Flowing the landslide election result on 4th July, the King’s speech delivered last week formally set out the priorities of the new Labour government for the coming parliamentary session. 

The key question for BIDs is how much of what is being tabled will deliver the much needed positive change to high streets, and will this be delivered in a timetable that reflects the urgency of the situation.

There was much in the speech that can potentially offer huge benefits to high streets, enabling them to better reflect needs of their local communities:

  • The Planning and Infrastructure Bill to accelerate house building and infrastructure through improvements to local planning decision making
  • The English Devolution Bill to move power out of Westminster, giving local leaders the tools they need to drive growth and introducing new powers and duties for local leaders to produce Local Growth Plans
  • The Better Buses Bill to deliver improved services up and down the country and support local leaders to create the transport networks that are right for their communities
  • The Crime and Policing Bill to strengthen community policing, giving the police greater powers to deal with anti-social behaviour and to tackle knife crime and retail crime by creating a new specific offence of assaulting a shopworker and introduce stronger measures to tackle low level shoplifting.

Rightly or wrongly, my expectations for legislative change to support high streets has been framed by what was featured  in Labour’s pre-election plan to restore Britain’s high streets published on 10th April (Labour’s 5-point plan to breathe life into Britain’s high streets – The Labour Party).  In summary, the 5-point plan tabled the following:

  1. Tackle anti-social behaviour and shoplifting
  2. Roll out banking hubs
  3. Replace business rates
  4. Stamp out late payments
  5. Revamp empty shops, pubs and community spaces

Of the five points, anti-social behaviour and shoplifting was the only one specifically mentioned in the King’s speech under the Crime and Policing Bill and, therefore, this is the one aspect that BIDs should anticipate coming to fruition over the next year.  In itself, this single change could reap significant benefits for high streets via cost reductions for businesses (even saving some businesses from failing), and by making high streets and other retail destinations feel safer and therefore more appealing to those who live, shop and work there and become more attractive for inward investment.

However, the element that receives most attention – which could potentially deliver the most significant and visible change for our high streets – is the reform of business rates.  But after listening to the newly elected Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, speak at a recent BIDs Foundation conference it was clear that the government’s intention is limited to having a plan in place for the replacement of the current system of business rates by the end of the first Labour term of government in 2028/2029 which I find quite disappointing.

So realistically, it’s probably naïve to expect that the manifesto for high streets – other than tackling anti-social behaviour and shoplifting – will even start to be implemented during the 2024/2025 parliamentary session.  We, therefore, need to temper our expectations further, and reluctantly should not anticipate the much longed for fundamental change in our high streets during the first Labour term.

Having said that, if the Prime Minister’s intention “for a government of service guided by clear missions” is to be believed, it’s critical that a plan for the implementation of change in high streets quickly becomes evident – one which is created through collaboration with the BID industry.  This will facilitate widespread and considered consultation, and enable BIDs and other stakeholders in the high street to contribute their much needed and wide-ranging experience and expertise to the change process.