No sooner had my last column hit the presses than a full complement of manifestos were unveiled.

We are now replete with policy promises from all the political parties, all but one of which has supplied us with a weighty volume (the Brexit Party choosing instead to offer a far more svelte ‘contract with the people’).

While each contains a broad selection of commitments, business in general (and retail in particular) will be heartened by a range of targeted promises. However, as we well know, political party manifesto promises are sometimes a far cry from the reality of delivering them in practice.

On business rates, it seems the parties (and perhaps even more importantly, the Treasury) may just now be getting the hint that the retail industry, in the midst of rapid and far-reaching transformation, cannot continue to shoulder an ever-increasing c.£7.5bn property tax burden in perpetuity.

“It is, perhaps, telling that the measures to address retail’s bête noir are most firmly promised by the parties least likely to form a government”

Indeed, among the plethora of rising operating costs, rising business rates have been a key component driving pre-tax profit margins of the top 150 retailers to halve over the last eight years. Given the pace of change facing the industry, we estimate that large multiple retailers currently occupy around 20% too much physical capacity currently.

To that end, the Conservatives, Labour, the Lib Dems and the Brexit Party have all promised some form of action on rates.

The Tories have boldly committed to cutting business rates through a “fundamental review” of the system, although I’m sure I’ve heard words to similar effect in previous Budgets. They have also committed to protect high streets by “further cutting business rates for retail businesses” as a first step.

Both Labour and the Lib Dems have included proposals for a move from the current rates system to a land value tax. However, the Labour Party is only committed to exploring this as an option while the Lib Dems are promising an outright replacement.

Despite having a much slimmer policy document than the other parties, the Brexit Party has included a commitment to invest in high streets by replacing business rates with a simpler system to assist small high street retailers, paid for by a small online sales tax.

Pie in the sky

It is, perhaps, telling that the measures to address retail’s bête noir are most firmly promised by the parties least likely to form a government. If I’ve learned anything over the last decade I’ve spent working on retail policy, it’s that finding an alternative to rates that works for both retailers and the Government is no small task.

Not surprising then that despite both the Conservatives and Labour having identified rates as something to be addressed, they’ve committed only to reviewing or exploring options.

These promises seem to be a nod to the scale of the challenge facing traditional high street retailers, but also in their vagueness an acknowledgement that solving the problem to everyone’s satisfaction will take time far beyond that which has been available for the compiling of the manifestos for this snap election.

Of course, the challenges facing retailers don’t begin and end with rates. Retail continues to evolve at pace and future success may well rely on the next government pulling whatever policy levers it can to support the industry. It may, therefore, be a little disheartening to know that only one of the manifestos commits to anything like a holistic approach to policy support for retail.

Labour, along-side their pledges on high streets and rates, are the only party to have promised to develop a retail sector industrial strategy. However, the latest polls show Labour trailing the Conservatives by anything between 10 and 18 points.

And while polls should always be viewed with healthy scepticism, it seems that in order to achieve an industrial strategy all its own, the retail industry will need something very significant to happen in the last weeks of the campaign to get Labour anywhere near the winning line.

It’s important to remember that a host of other policies could have an impact far beyond the benefits of any of the changes I’ve outlined today. Promises abound on everything from reforming the apprenticeship levy to changes to the rate of corporation tax.

Retailers should take heart that the most urgent of their concerns have finally made it onto the agenda of the UK’s politicians. However, if a review of rates is all that the next government does for the industry, the problems faced today will continue for some time to come.

Election: Whatever the outcome, Brexit will mean a government of extremes