The Welsh Retail Consortium is calling on the Welsh Government to put competitiveness and productivity at the heart of its Budget and Spending Review for 2017/18.

In a new paper ‘Open for Business: Growing a more productive and competitive Welsh economy’ submitted to the Welsh Finance Secretary, the WRC highlights the profound changes affecting retail and puts forward detailed policy recommendations across key areas including business rates, apprenticeship levy, charges, regulation and infrastructure.

With the devolution of further new powers, along with the uncertainty following the Brexit vote, the WRC believes there is an urgent need for the Welsh Government to take “tangible action” to support the retail sector and consumer confidence.

One in eight retail premises in Wales is currently vacant and action is needed to ensure that we see vibrant and sustainable high streets for the future.

The detailed submission from the leading sectoral trade association comes ahead of the expected publication this autumn of the Welsh Government’s spending and taxation plans.

The retail industry is Wales’s largest private sector employer, providing 135,000 jobs, and the WRC’s members include well known high street, online and grocery retailers.

The WRC is recommending that Welsh Ministers:

• Work with the industry to deliver a retail strategy which sets out a clear road-map for future tax and regulatory changes for the decade ahead

• Press ahead with fundamental reform of business rates so that a modernised, sustainable, strategically coherent and competitive rates system can be in place

• Ensure firms in Wales which pay the Apprenticeship Levy directly benefit from it

• Bolster consumer confidence by keeping a firm grip on personal tax rates once the current Draft Wales Bill is enacted and income tax powers have been drawn down

• Shelve any proposals for a deposit return scheme for drinks containers which would push up prices for consumers.