For once, all sectors involved in the high street were completely united this week. The government’s handling is a shambles.

While it was good to have everyone singing from the same hymn sheet for change, what does it say for ministers, with retailers in desperate need of help to reduce crippling operating costs and solve issues such as outdated planning regulations and parking?

“The government’s policies on the subject of the high street are a shambles”

Ian Quinn, chief reporter

It’s becoming increasingly obvious Mary Portas is heading for the exit door as the high street tsar - just in time to front a new TV show on Channel 4. It was equally obvious, when the Portas pilots were announced, that politicians dodged the real issues raised in her 2011 report.

Now the government has a new solution - the Future High Streets Forum. And while the line-up looks promising, from Tesco and Boots to the BRC and the ACS, there are worrying signs here too.

Those involved report having no date for a first meeting, no idea of the terms of reference and, sadly, little or no faith that the government knows what it’s doing. It’s time for serious questions to be answered about the chronic paralysis.