An influential think-tank has become the latest organisation to call on the Government to alleviate the punishing impact of business rates in an effort to curb the spiralling number of store closures on the  high street.

In the Queen's Speech the Government announced it will establish "a simple set of consumer rights to promote competitive markets and growth."

Hazell denies sexually assaulting and killing the 12-year-old last year

It's not just the high street that's feeling the squeeze: Intu, the owner of Lakeside in Essex and Manchester's Trafford Centre, yesterday said fewer customers were coming to its shopping centres as the retail sector remains "difficult".

The son of the founder of Musto has stepped down as chief executive of the sportswear specialist, for which Zara Phillips is a brand ambassador.

Reiss is close to losing its third director in as many months, in a blow for the fashion retailer.

Whitbread today cranked up expansion plans for its budget hotel chain Premier Inn in the UK and Costa Coffee globally, as the leisure group delivered annual profits ahead of City expectations.

Former Asda and Royal Mail boss Allan Leighton has been named the new chief executive of Danish lucky-charms jeweller Pandora after Puma poached its current boss.

The supermarket chain's relentless hunger for giant new stores is over, it has signalled. So what's the strategy?

Lord Wolfson, chief executive of Next, pocketed more than £4.5m last year after a healthy rise in annual profits at the fashion and homewares retailer.

The Government appears to have delayed publishing a progress  report on the towns which received taxpayer money to revitalise their local high streets until later this year.

A year ago department store John Lewis said it was "too hot to shop" as Britain basked in a heatwave but yesterday the CBI said the high street had effectively ground to a halt as shoppers shivered and inflation hit wallets.

The town's working class population have been left out of this debate