High Streets and town centres are important. Even in an age when internet shopping and supermarkets play a much bigger role in national retail habits, town centres shape the identity of places as well as providing valued places to meet, eat, shop and drink.

But across the country they are struggling. In Tameside we know this only too well, where despite some tremendous local businesses across the Borough we all want to see ambitious plans for each of our towns to attract more people into them.

Improving town centres has had an intermittent focus from Government over the last few years. There was the welcome Mary Portas report when David Cameron was Prime Minister, which led to the town teams being established, but it never had major regulatory or financial backing from Government. More recently we have had the Levelling Up fund bids, which do provide substantial funds if you get them, but the decision-making is obscure to say the least.

I believe, alongside funding for land regeneration and support for excellent local groups, such as the Hyde Together group, we need a more comprehensive look at the incentives and policies town centres need to succeed. In the Labour Party we have drawn up a five-point action plan, which has been shaped largely by my experiences in Hyde, Stalybridge and Mossley.

Firstly, we want to increase the threshold for Small Business Rates Relief. This currently stands at £15,000, which means if the rateable value of your premises is below that you pay no or much reduced business rates. We would increase that to £25,000 and pay for it by increasing the Digital Services Tax which the online giants pay – a much fairer balance of retail taxation.

Secondly, energy costs are still a big deal. We’d use some of the revenue from the energy windfall tax to offer businesses vouchers for energy efficiency measures, bringing down their energy costs for good rather than just temporarily.

Thirdly, we’d tackle payments – a huge issue for smaller businesses – by making larger companies report through their audit committees on how quickly they pay their suppliers.

Fourthly, we’d give councils the power to bring boarded up shops back into use if they’ve been neglected for a long period of time. You would not believe how some premises, often valuable ones, have owners who are indifferent to their condition or whether or not they are in use.

Lastly, issues of crime and anti-social behaviour cannot be ignored. Our plan to centralise police procurement and spend the savings on an additional 10,000 neighbourhood officers is an essential part of this plan.

There are few easy answers to sustaining vibrant high streets in a digital and globalized age, but I believe these measures form a solid start, as we explained to the Mirror.