Rachel Reeves just sucked the life out of Britain | UK | News

Is it a coincidence that the British high street is dying a slow, painful death under Labor rule? The public finances are in even greater disarray than in the 1970s but of course this dangerous, indecisive and dogmatic Government knows best.

So instead of prioritizing spending restrictions over further tax hikes and redoubling efforts to boost growth, this band of mayhem presides over crisis after crisis.

Going back to the 70s is a terrifying prospect for anyone who remembers the deplorable state of the economy for much of the decade.

Few places exhibit such evidence of this incompetence as the thriving streets of our once vibrant towns and cities.

The Labor Party has done much, historically and recently, to harm this country and its way of life.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ terrifying assault on businesses has seen the life sucked out of the high street, so it’s not hard to see why some experts are predicting the next financial crisis could be lurking just around the corner.

With even Poundland and charity shops rapidly closing, it’s clear there’s a problem. Clearly, if the experts are right, we should all be afraid of what might happen next.

But others must also take responsibility for the devastation from Paisley to Penzance.

More than 13,000 stores have closed since 2024 due to high costs including severe VAT and business rates raids, reduced consumer spending and online competition. Today, one in every seven stores is empty.

​And few people, other than banks and building societies, have pointed two fingers at the communities they claim to defend; especially since one of them is one of the worst offenders.

Lloyds Banking Group, one of the UK’s largest financial services institutions with 30 million customers and 65,000 employees, has closed more than 1,000 branches since 2015.

And this was after he was given £20.3bn of taxpayers’ money to prevent collapse during the 2008 financial crisis. The rescue plan was triggered by catastrophic losses from the acquisition of HBOS.

Things were so bad that at one time 43% of this place was in your hands, the public. So you might think they’d be “on your side,” per the long-standing marketing slogan designed to demonstrate support, trustworthiness, and partnership.

It reported pre-tax profits rose 12% to £6.66bn last year.

But this year it plans to close a further 95 branches in a devastating program of rolling cuts that will further isolate and alienate communities.

It’s hard to imagine a more nefarious act against the people it claims to serve — disproportionately retirees — especially when a company spokesperson puts this nonsense this way: “We give our customers the flexibility to bank wherever and whenever they need us.” Except, of course, for the many towns and cities they cut and run.

Approximately 6,609 bank branches closed between January 2015 and December 2024. Today, only 38% of the network remains operational from a decade ago.

There was a time when businesses were unabashed defenders of the high streets where they lived and served. Not now.

Ms Reeves represents the same model that has memorized every Labor Government: tax more, spend more and borrow more.

Under Labour, we are seeing not only the sucking of life from the high street but also the sucking of life from Britain itself.