Westminster has been accused of being a zombie government of late and, certainly, there was little sign of ministers springing to life to tackle the issue of business rates reform yesterday.

In response to the business, innovation and skills committee report on the plight of the retail sector, published in March, ministers delivered a definitive ‘no’ to wholesale reform of the system.

It seems like decades have passed since a who’s who of retailers and organisations were telling last year’s inquiry by the BIS committee that there was a desperate need for fundamental reform, if not replacement, of business rates. But if the scenario of tinkering round the edges was the one that nobody wanted, it looks increasingly like the one they’re going to get.

The government response to the call on rates reform was, in fact, one of its bolder recent statements, with little beating around the bush.

Replacing rates with a new system – such as a tax on sales – would, it said, be a double whammy the consumer could do without. Although the government repeated its willingness to consider reviewing the frequency of rates valuations, alongside other tinkering measures already taken to blunt the pain of rates, that was as far as it would go.

It will be interesting to see if the many campaigners who feel the rates system is a busted flush are able to get wind back in their sales after this.

The government seems to have decided that to replace the current rates system with a new one entirely just isn’t worth the trouble – especially when the alternatives, such as the BRC’s proposed discount for greener businesses – are themselves fraught with potential problems. Moreover, with encouraging signs of green shoots in the economy, and that election on the horizon, why rock the boat?

The BRC is due to publish a new report by Ernst and Young at the end of the month that will seek to breathe new life into the issue. It will be fascinating to see what they come up with; on this issue it really will be like trying to wake the dead.

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