Retail guru Mary Portas makes bold claim about Labour’s impact on British high streets

Speaking at the Labour conference in Liverpool, she said the party would ‘breathe life back into our high streets again’

Mary Portas (BBC / OPTOMEN / RICHARD CANNON)

Retail guru Mary Portas said she is “absolutely confident” a Labour government would “breathe life” back into Britain’s high streets.

The broadcaster was appointed by then-prime minister David Cameron to lead a review into the future of British high streets in 2011.

But Ms Portas, who presented Mary Queen of Shops, said she has been “frustrated” by what has happened during 13 years of Conservative rule.

Speaking as she introduced shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves to the stage at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, she said: “Eight hundred years, over 100 names and all of them men.

“When Labour forms the next government at the next election, that is going to change, because Rachel Reeves will be Britain’s first female chancellor.

“And that is historic, not just for women and for women at the top but also because this will mean that politics will really start to work with business, to propel us forward into the new future we all so desperately need.”

Ms Portas, turning to the high street, said: “I’m as frustrated as you all are (over) what has happened to them of the last 13 years of a Conservative government.

“I am absolutely confident that Labour will breathe life back into our high streets again.

“Rachel is committed to scrapping business rates and replacing them with a fairer system that will provide critical support to many of the small businesses that make up – let’s face this – 99% of our economy and they are the backbone of Britain.

“Because Rachel understands just how much our high streets matter. This is not just for the economy but for the vital sense of community and connection that they foster.

Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves making her Labour conference speech (PA)

“She understands that if you get your high streets right and thriving, the subsequent financial and social uplift feeds a local economy, it feeds a community and the safety and wellbeing of the people in it.

“She knows all that because should Labour win she will not just be our first female chancellor, she will be the best-qualified chancellor that Britain has ever had.”

Mark Carney, a former Bank of England governor, also delivered a video message after Ms Reeves concluded her speech.

He said: “Rachel Reeves is a serious economist. She began her career at the Bank of England so she understands the big picture.

“But, crucially, she understands the economics of work, of place and family. And, look, it is beyond time we put her energy and ideas into action.”