Tony Rea, Labour candidate for Ivybridge, Devon County Council election, of Erme Road, Ivybridge, writes:

Mathew Lee is right to ­criticise the partial review of business rates that could see local businesses on the brink of closure, Gazette, 3 March.

Fortunately, many of the small businesses in Ivybridge centre are exempt from the rates, but shops in Glanvilles Mill and the two recently closed banks on Fore Street are still empty, while many people bemoan a lack of shops in the town centre.

The Government continues to stand by a much-criticised and unfair business rates system; meanwhile, Labour’s forward-looking perspective supports a number of imaginative polices to promote local leadership and tackle economic problems.

A strong Labour group at County Hall will be good for local business in Ivybridge and other South Hams towns. It

will encourage investment in ­business growth and better ­services by stimulating new types of organisation, particularly co-operatives and social enterprises, and will lobby for a regional investment bank to provide funds to develop new businesses.

Devon’s Local Enterprise Partnership currently has an underspend, which is evidence that it is not working. If elected to the county council in May, alongside the Devon Labour group, I will ensure that the Local Enterprise Partnership becomes more open and ­inclusive of small businesses, co-operatives and social ­enterprises.