The Budget addresses the boarded-up high street crisis seen across provinces directly, increasing the small business rates relief threshold from £12,000 to £18,000 across retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors. “Today, I’m taking action to support our high streets,” said John Healey, Chancellor of the Exchequer, in his budget delivery. In practice, this means 70,000 businesses will no longer pay business rates.
The new policies come at an urgent moment. Insiders feel that the UK’s fashion sector has been crying out for help, despite the estimated £67.5 billion contribution to the UK economy and the 1.4 million jobs it supports, per the BFC. This appetite for change was palpable during LFW Spring/Summer 2027 — a season of renewed energy but also resilience.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, also addressed this in his remarks at the BFC’s LFW breakfast. “One of the reasons we support the British Fashion Council is we see it as an investment,” he said, reiterating the industry’s role in creating jobs and supporting businesses. “London Fashion Week is a showcase of our city. It’s about our culture, creativity, values, [and] innovation. You’ve had a tough few years, so thank you for persevering.”
A win for boutiques and founders
For now, the Budget leaves many fashion businesses wanting more. Burnham has billed himself as “pro-business”, but experts claim his new policies will only benefit a select segment of the fashion industry. “£18,000 is not a lot of money,” says Goodacre. “It represents small boutiques, small shops, and newsagents.”
Granted, the Budget will ease the burden on founders thanks to a dedicated entrepreneurs’ capital gains tax relief scheme, promising a reduced 10% rate on up to £10 million of lifetime gains. The objective is to encourage riskier, high-growth businesses — a positive for the growing cohort of micro-brands that have gained traction fast in the past decade. However, the cost of doing business for the majority of retailers hasn’t improved, and will rise with the Budget’s increase on national living wage and national minimum, both up 3.9% — a rate higher than inflation (3.5%).
Rosie Wrighting, Labour MP for Kettering and former fashion buyer for Asos, felt the budget was pro-growth. “It was a budget where risk-taking, entrepreneurship [and] high streets are really backed, and I think all of this helps the fashion industry,” she says. “I also want to acknowledge that regardless of what John Healey announced today, we are facing a difficult environment at the moment, and I think the fashion industry really feels that. Global headwinds — whether it’s a war in the Middle East, a war in Europe — disrupt the international supply chains that the fashion industry relies on. I think that John Healey made the announcements he did in order to give the businesses that need it the most breathing space.”
