Pickles sideswipes Thatcher legacy

Speculation in Whitehall is that a recent ministerial announcement over Business Rates signifies either an ideological shift or a poor memory on the part of Communities Secretary Eric Pickles who described the local taxation method a "disincentive to growth".

Mr Pickles is currently reviewing council resources in England and has expressed a view that allowing councils to keep their own business rates will be an incentive to encourage private sector growth & regeneration by providing them with a "direct stake in the future of their area".

Business rates were introduced in England and Wales in 1990 and was one of the last actions steered through by Margaret Hilda Thatcher. Although it caused a minor furore among tory ranks at the time, mostly because of centralised collection and redistribution according to need, a number of right-wingers are already said to be outraged at this implied condemnation of a revered party icon.

Local authority leaders are even less impressed. They see the minister’s stated aim of “freeing councils from their enslavement to government grants” as simply a device to cut them adrift from funding streams and force them into further service cuts.

None of the four main parties in Wales have so far mentioned similar plans to “reform” business rates in the run up to the Assembly elections - but there is still time.