Kemi Badenoch skewers Starmer and Reeves for killing UK high streets to fund benefits bill

Kemi Badenoch today makes a passionate promise to save Britain's high streets, which she says Labour are intent on killing. The Conservative leader insists she can reverse the decline of the nation's town centres and kick-start a jobs boom.

Writing exclusively in the Sunday Express, Mrs Badenoch vowed to end the scourge of boarded-up shops, which she blames on Labour's punishing "Jobs Tax" and sky-high business rates. In a blazing attack, she accuses Sir Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves of treating high streets like "cash cows" so they can fund their own "pet projects" and allow the benefits bill to soar.

"Ever since Labour took office, it's as if they've been hellbent on making life harder for high streets," she says.

Recalling her first jobs as a teenager - in McDonald's and clothing retailer New Look - working on the high street, the Tory leader warns: "If we lose high street businesses, we don't just lose a part of our community and local economy.

"We lose a first start in life for thousands of people across the country."

Abolishing business rates for 250,000 retailers forms the centrepiece of Mrs Badenoch's bold blueprint to revive Britain's ailing 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, which would be introduced if the Tories win the next election, will help revive high streets and town centres which have also taken a battering in recent years as shoppers turn to online retailers.

Mrs Badenoch's stark warning comes as Labour gears up for another humiliating U-turn with ministers expected to climbdown on tax hikes for pubs.

Treasury sources confirmed the cave-in just six weeks after the Chancellor unveiled Budget plans which critics said would send tens of thousands of businesses in the retail and hospitality sector to the wall.

Officials said the package would deliver "a lifeline for pubs", but were unable to say exactly how it will work - or what it will be worth - leaving publicans still worried.

And hotels, restaurants and independent retailers reacted with fury after ministers signalled that, for now at least, the business rates concessions will apply only to pubs.

Sir Keir has now presided over at least eight major U-turns in his chaotic first 18 months in power.

Mrs Badenoch mocked: "Another week, another shambolic U-turn from this hopeless government.

"The only thing more maddening than the total incompetence of this government is the inevitability of these U-turns."

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

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

But when the small print was examined in the hours that followed, the average pub was facing a 15% increase in business rates in April, rising to 48% next year and 76% in 2028.

The scale of the increase triggered a furious backlash from the sector, with more than 1,500 pubs reported to have banned Labour MPs from their premises.

The crisis has been triggered by the unwinding of Covid-era discounts on business rates for the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors, coupled with a rates revaluation.

Allies of Ms Reeves insist she became aware of the scale of the issue only after the Budget, because Treasury officials were barred from looking at the impact of the rates revaluation on individual businesses.

Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride has written to Ms Reeves demanding she go further.

He said: "A last-minute U-turn on Labour's Pubs Tax isn't enough.

"Shops, cafes and hotels need clarity - and permanent cuts to business rates, not temporary fixes."

Kate Nicholls, Chair of UK Hospitality, said: "The entire hospitality sector is affected by these business rates hikes - from pubs and hotels to restaurants and cafes.

"We need a hospitality-wide solution, which is why the Government should implement the maximum possible 20p discount to the multiplier for all hospitality properties."

Andrew Goodacre, CEO of Bira, said: "The leader of the opposition has got this right and it is great to hear about the kind of support she would give to high streets.

"This is very different to the current government, whose policies have increased business rates by more than 140% and is now intent on splitting the high street by offering extra support to pubs only.

"While we welcome relief for pubs, independent retailers are dealing with exactly the same pressures - significant increases in rateable values, low consumer confidence, rising labour costs, plus unfair competition from online giants and low-value imports escaping duty.

"High streets need coherent support, not piecemeal policies that pick winners and losers."

Britain's high streets have taken a pummelling in recent years, with a slew of shops closing.

Several once-thriving retail brands fell into administration in 2025, including big names like Claire's, Bodycare and Poundland, with hundreds of stores and jobs put at risk.

More than 13,000 high street stores were shuttered for good in 2024, according to figures by the Centre for Retail Research - and it's feared the number that closed last year will be even higher.

More shops are also set to shut in 2026, as retailers are hammered by Labour's hikes to the minimum wage and National Insurance contributions for employers.

A Labour Party spokesperson said: "Kemi Badenoch should be apologising to the British people for the damage she and her party did to our economy and the country, not lecturing others who are now having to clean up their mess. Under the Tories, Britain's high streets were hollowed out - and they failed to fix a broken business rates system while costs spiralled.

"We make no apology for taking action to restore stability, protect pubs and small businesses, and reform business rates so high-street shops are supported rather than punished."

Meanwhile, the head of snooker's world governing body has said he is worried about the future of snooker clubs in the UK as they feel the impact of Ms Reeves' budget.

Jason Ferguson, president of the World Professional Billiards and Snooker Association, said he was concerned about clubs being hit with a double whammy of rents and increased business rates, after the Government ended Covid-era rates support in the Budget.

He said: "We need a change, we need a change in attitudes towards snooker clubs, and it can't just be treated as the same as an office block, or a nightclub, or a retail unit. It is a sports facility."

A Treasury spokesperson said: "With Covid support ending and valuations rising, some firms may face higher costs - so we have stepped in to cap bills and help businesses, as part of a £4.3 billion support package."