Local business rates campaigner appears on BBC Sunday Politics programme

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Paul Turner-Mitchell

Local business rates campaigner Paul Turner-Mitchell appeared on the BBC Sunday Politics programme as part of a feature on the effects on local businesses of the delay in business rates revaluation.

Speaking on the programme, Mr Turner-Mitchell said: "We have the perverse situation were retailers in Greater Manchester are subsidising the likes of  Burberry, Chanel and Dolce & Gabbana and that cannot be right or a system of fair taxation."

Business rates are based on the rental value of a building and rental values in London's Bond Street have risen 72% whilst in Greater Manchester rental values have dropped by 47% since the last valuation in 2008. The government delay, from 2013 to 2015, has benefitted luxury stores in London at the expense of hard hit retailers in the Greater Manchester, and the effects can be seen on local high streets with sky high vacancy rates - Rochdale is particularly badly hit with a vacancy rate of 21.9%, whilst vacancy rates in the south are dropping.

Vince Cable, the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, has admitted that the business rates system does not work fairly and said the government is considering annual reviews.

Christian Spence of Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce says the system is broken and needs changing.