What new Prime Minister Andy Burnham needs to do to put the glow back into the UK high street

Former Mayor of Greater Manchester and self-styled ‘King of the North’ Andy Burnham has today, 20 July, officially taken over from Keir Starmer as Prime Minister.

Now the real work begins, and Burnham is being urged by many retail industry big hitters to follow through on his pledges to address business rates reform, rising employment costs and put in place help for the UK’s high streets.

In a recent speech, Burnham said his ambitions include “good growth in every postcode”. He also asked the question: “Shouldn’t we make our high streets the new symbol of Britain's renaissance?”

Beauty businesses face many of the same pressures as physical retailers, with the British Beauty Council estimating that 95% of UK beauty businesses are SMEs or micro-businesses.

In a statement from earlier this month, the Council outlined the pressures that beauty SMEs are currently facing, including a 40% hike in energy standing charges, a projected 52% rise in business rates over the next three years, and mounting employment costs via minimum wage and Statutory Sick Pay adjustments.

For the beauty sector, for which physical premises are often vital, "these pressures are proving unsustainable", the Council added.

To address these pressures, the Council has called for targeted business-rates intervention covering retail services such as salons. Its policy position also seeks discretionary relief and greater tax parity between high-street operators and online marketplaces.

Similar, last week saw the British Retail Consortium (BRC) launch its ‘Buy into Retail Manifesto’, calling on Andy Burnham to work with retailers and back reforms to employment costs, business rates, energy, and regulation needed to support an incoming government’s ambition for jobs, growth and a thriving high street.

Retailers are clear that such ambitions can only be achieved if businesses have the confidence and certainty to invest in jobs, growth and affordability. That will require greater partnership between the government and businesses, which is something Andy Burnham has promised to address.

The BRC says the timing could not be more important, with youth unemployment rising and retailers have a vital role as the first step on the career ladder for almost a quarter of 18-24 year-olds.

Retail employs 2.8 million people in every city, town and village, while millions more are employed within its supply chains. Those jobs are essential to deliver growth “in every postcode”, yet rising costs, including a £6.5 billion increase in employment and National Insurance in two years, are putting many jobs at risk, with 400,000 lost in the last decade.

Andy Burnham has already begun to outline his focus for the government, including spreading jobs right across the country and reforming business rates.

However, the ‘Buy into Retail Manifesto: Jobs, Growth and Affordability’ 10-point plan calls on the government to:

1. Cut the cost of employing young people to create more jobs
2. Deliver employment rights and skills reforms that keep people in work and training
3. Launch a government-retail taskforce to expand routes for young people into employment
4. Get a grip on retail crime - with zero tolerance
5. Fix business rates to unlock investment in high streets and support local jobs
6. Make electricity costs competitive for retailers so consumers don’t pay the price
7. Support investment in retail sites everywhere
8. Keep goods moving freely across borders and ensure fair competition
9. Strip back overlapping regulation that adds to prices
10. Join up government decisions so new costs and rules don’t land at once

Helen Dickinson, Chief Executive of the BRC, said: “Retail is where the economy shows up in everyday life. It is where millions of people earn a living. Retail is part of the everyday economy, touching every community across the UK.

“When retail thrives, more people are in work, investment flows into local communities, and fierce competition drives prices down for families. But cumulative costs and fragmented policy decisions are holding the industry back.

“Retailers have absorbed £6.5 billion in additional employment costs since 2024, as well as billions more in new packaging taxes, business rates, and rising electricity costs. The consequences are clear: fewer jobs, less investment and higher prices for consumers.

“Andy Burnham has made collaborating with business to drive growth, high streets, and living standards central to his ambition. Retail is a key partner to deliver it: with the right policies, retail can drive investment, support jobs in every postcode, and keep household essentials affordable. Our manifesto offers a path for Mr Burnham to support the millions of people that rely on retail every day.”

In the Council's recently published Value of Beauty 2026 report, for example, it estimated that employment across the UK beauty industry fell by 2.8% in 2025, even as the sector contributed £28.3 billion to the economy.

Chris Brook-Carter, Chief Executive of the retail industry charity Retail Trust, believes the new Prime Minister should put greater emphasis on the people that work within the retail sector. He commented: “Andy Burnham has said he wants to make UK high streets ‘a symbol of Britain’s renaissance’ and provide greater support for the businesses that bring social value to their local communities.

“The retail industry needs decisive leadership, and we hope our new Prime Minister listens carefully to concerns around the burden of business rates and employment costs and also builds on the milestone Crime and Policing Act and the protections this should provide staff.

“We fully support his ambitions, but any plan to reinvigorate Britain’s high streets must place the nearly three million people who work in retail at its heart, as their collective wellbeing is fundamental to the energy, identity and economic prosperity of our towns and cities.

“There is a plan for the buildings. There needs to be a plan for the people in them. Retail sites and high streets cannot thrive unless the people in them do.”

Charlotte Broadbent, UK General Manager at online wholesale marketplace Faire, is another advocate for addressing the broken business rates model. She said:

“Independent retailers are often the businesses that bring the most character, footfall and prosperity to our high streets and in a world where so much of daily life happens behind a screen, help make a place feel like somewhere special.

“Business rates have been one of independent retailers’ biggest fixed financial burdens, so we fully welcome any support from our new Prime Minster to help bring them down. The shopkeepers using Faire in towns and villages across the country tell me that even modest reductions in their costs could lead to more ambitious and creative product ranges, new jobs and greater investment in their communities.

“We would also urge Andy Burnham and local leaders to consider the wider conditions independent shops need to thrive. Whether it be more affordable and accessible parking, stronger support from councils or more investment in town centres, the future success of our high streets will be shaped as much by a strong sense of place as by the costs and strategies of individual businesses.”

Last week, the new Real Rates Reform Alliance said Andy Burnham should tax online sales as part of a complete reform of Britain’s “broken and unsustainable” business rates system, as retailers come under increasing strain.

The group, which represents more than 28,000 firms and business leaders, wants all online sales taxed at 2%, which it said would allow a 37% cut in business rates for bricks-and-mortar retailers.

The alliance believes that would provide a “major shot in the arm” for many high streets and communities which it said have been forced into cutting jobs, investment and raising prices due to the pressures of rising business rate bills.