Bernard Ginns: When does a business have an adverse social impact?

So asked Tom Riordan, chief executive of Leeds City Council, on the Twitter website on Friday night. By way of example, he suggested doorstep lenders.

Bradford-based Provident Financial is a subprime lender. It is also one of West Yorkshire’s most successful financial services companies.

Some people are sniffy about a company like Provident, but it is regulated by the Financial Services Authority, it is subject to regular media scrutiny and it undeniably provides a service to a section of society that cannot easily get credit anywhere else.

International Personal Finance is another subprime lender, headquartered in Leeds, that operates in emerging markets. Again, it is a successful Yorkshire financial services business.

Some people might object to the nature of what it does, but again it is regulated.

So should Provident Financial and International Personal Finance have to pay higher business rates? I suggested this to Mr Riordan. He said: “I would personally class doorstep-lending in a different category to those you mention.”

He added: “I’m asking the question because I think a small number of companies give thousands of businesses a bad name.”

Howard Walker, who works for a North East law firm with an office in Yorkshire, asked Mr Riordan if he would include betting shops.

Mr Riordan responded: “Not in my view but leave it up to local democratic discretion.”

Take William Hill as another example. It is a substantial employer in Yorkshire.

It not only provides retail jobs at its shops but also offers decent careers to clever IT graduates at its digital operations, which are located in Leeds. Should William Hill have to pay higher business rates if local politicians believe that gambling has an adverse social impact?

What would the board directors think when they come to review their costs?

Take Asda. If local councillors wanted to take action against the causes of obesity they might decide to target certain retailers.

Asda’s head of communications Sian Jarvis conceded to BBC’s Today programme last week that “one in three of our checkouts are what we call guilt-free checkouts”.

Presenter Jim Naughtie accused Asda of tempting mothers with children with “great displays of fattening and sugar loaded confectionery”.

Taken to its conclusion, this line of argument might lead local politicians to decide that Asda has an adverse social impact. And clobber it with higher business rates.

Take Morrisons. The Bradford-based supermarket giant operates abattoirs. Some local politicians might be opposed to the slaughter of animals. Should Morrisons pay higher business rates?

You can see some of the problems that emerge from this idea. It could easily send out the message that a local authority is distinctly business-unfriendly.

I put it to the Leeds CEO that such a policy might have unintended consequences.

Mr Riordan said: “I’d limit it to contain any unintended consequences to a defined small percentage of a city’s business stock. The idea would be to incentivise businesses not to appear on the list. The proceeds could be used to reduce rates for those doing very beneficial things.”

He said such a policy would target doorstep lenders that set up shop in deprived areas.

He added: “It’s not council policy, just my question to raise a debate at this stage!”

Fair enough. I would like to know what the business audience thinks. My personal view is that local and central government should be looking for ways to reduce taxes, not increase them.

• I OWE an apology to the Labour Party press officer I was rather unkind to back in January when I cruelly suggested that Ed Miliband was living on borrowed time as party leader.

Mr Miliband has had rather more longevity than I had originally supposed, though he has been helped by a series of gaffes by the coalition Government that started with March’s ill-conceived Budget.

Now some of the big shots in business seem to be coming round.

Asked if he could see Mr Miliband as Prime Minister, top HSBC economist Mark Berrisford-Smith told me: “I think you’d better get used to it.

“My advice is get your business group to go and start talking to him. The rate things are going is he is going to be in with a pretty good shout.

“The problem is you have got the very difficult economic situation and when that happens the chances are the major parties do turn about. That’s what we did in the Sixties and Seventies.”

Twitter: @bernardginns