Retailers pay 25pc of all business rates, even though they account for only 10pc of the economy. Small companies are already getting a rates holiday, but it would be better to permanently fix the system.
Sure, that could be expensive – retail rates bring in an estimated £7.6bn a year – but that is only two weeks of spending of the furlough scheme. If it meant a few of those people had jobs to go back to, it would be worth it.
Thirdly, take a look at parking. Crazy charges, and officious wardens, have meant many councils have turned cars into cash machines.
It might not be environmentally friendly, but most people get to the high street on four wheels. If they could park for free, even for a year, they might make more trips.
Finally, the rules on re-zoning need to be relaxed. Lots of traditional retail businesses are not coming back, no matter how much help they get. It needs to be a lot easier to turn old shops and banks, often in lovely buildings, into shared offices for small companies, or flats, or gyms.
The high street needs to be a place where people live, work and have fun as well as shop – and that way it will remain busy and vibrant.
In reality, relaxing Sunday trading laws was only ever going to make life even tougher for small high street traders.
It would mainly benefit the big chains, and the out-of-town malls, while forcing independent businesses to work even longer hours to have any chance of competing.
In normal times, with a buoyant economy, and reforms in place to level the playing field between big and small rivals, there might be a case for it. In the middle of this unique emergency, it would just have been a distraction – and a dangerous one at that.