In assessing the Government’s proposals for business rates, the front pages have taken a rare break from the twists and turns of Brexit. The rates issue is politically important and points to three important themes: first, austerity persists as the public finances remain skewed; second, all of the ‘easy’ cuts have been made and the tax take is already around its limit; and third, as a result of that austerity and those limited options, the Government needs private companies to play a bigger role in delivering domestic policies. All the time these themes remain, businesses’ influence and responsibility in Whitehall grows.