Now Rachel Reeves takes aim at independent bookshops 'to fund benefits' in latest business rates blitz

Independent bookshop owners have warned soaring bills and tax raids could lead many to closure.

New analysis has shown around 400 independent retailers in England and Wales face an average rates bill rise of £4,563 a year.

One shop owner suggested they would need to sell 1,141 more books a year to offset the £3,461 jump in the firm’s annual rates bill in April.

Now, the Booksellers Association has suggested its members were angry at Labour for raising their bills in the "National Year of Reading", a campaign to increase literacy among young people.

Padstow Bookseller manager Dan Johns told Mail On Sunday: "We’re under attack from lots of angles. Like our colleagues in hospitality, we breed a better High Street. Now it is harder."

The shop on the Cornish coast is co-owned by Mr Johns' father Ron and celebrity chef Rick Stein and his wife Sarah.

Mr Johns pointed to one of the family’s other shops, the acclaimed St Ives Bookseller, had seen its rates bill surge by 60 per cent.

While he said he felt "very buoyant" two years ago, it all changed when a slew of cost rises including National Insurance Contributions, business rates and wages hit the firm after Labour came to power.

Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride said: "Labour is hammering bookshops with thousands of pounds in extra business rates.

"High Streets are at the heart of our communities, yet Reeves has piled on costs to fund her benefits bonanza instead of backing them.

"She and Labour show they don’t understand business. A Conservative government would abolish business rates for thousands of High Street shops and pubs."

Research from the Centre for Economics and Business Research said business rate receipts from England’s independent bookshops will go from £4.1million to over £6million by 2030

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Mr Johns also stressed the importance of independent bookshops for their personal expertise compared to multi-national companies including Amazon.

He suggested the 11 staff at the Padstow Bookseller provide expert advice in a way "clicking a button" on Amazon will not, however he admitted cost pressure is putting him off hiring more people.

Laura McCormack at the Booksellers Association said rising costs would shops might miss out on the "booktok" reading resurgence sparked by influencers on TikTok.

She said while the number of independent bookshops had been growing since 2016, this growth risked being snuffed out by the Government’s tax raid, adding: "That recovery is fragile."

A Treasury spokesman said: "We have the right economic plan, backing High Street firms by reforming business rates, including a £4.3billion support package to limit bill rises."

It comes as Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham has promised to cut business rates for pubs by 20 per cent were he to become Prime Minister

.He promised to reverse a series of tax rises which have hit hospitality and small businesses since Labour came to power.

The Government is undertaking a revaluation of business rates which, coupled with a removal of Covid-era relief, is expected to result in higher levies for restaurants, cafes, shops and other small businesses.

Pubs and music venues were given a carve-out to help them with costs in January, with a 15 per cent rates relief package, following public outcry.

But Mr Burnham has pledged to go further and cut rates by 20 per cent for pubs, as well as increasing the threshold at which other small businesses would need to pay business rates, effectively abolishing the tax for the smallest concerns.

He also said he was "sympathetic" to calls to reverse Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s increase in employers’ national insurance.

Labour’s Makerfield candidate said: "Our high streets matter to me because they matter to the people who live here. I want to make sure that these family-owned businesses, as the heart and soul of this country, are protected and given the chance to thrive."