BE A LOCAL HERO
» Calls for families to buy in town as Government cash pledge is ‘too little’ » 44 shops a day close and 140,000 jobs are axed as retail crisis deepens
SHOPPERS are today urged to buy local in a bid to rescue dying high streets left to rot during a decade of Tory rule.
Some 16,000 stores shut down in 2019 with 140,000 staff axed – the most in 25 years.
As the Government pledged £25m to a few areas, Labour’s Lisa Nandy said: “It’s up to high street heroes to save our town centres.”
THE high street has suffered its worst year of job losses for a quarter of a century with more than 140,000 workers axed, a report has revealed.
An average of 2,750 retail jobs went every week in the past 12 months, researchers said, up by more than a fifth on 2018.
The Centre for Retail Research, which conducted the study, warned the “crisis” could see 171,000 go in 2020.
It also reported that 16,073 shops had pulled down their shutters for the final time.
Patisserie Valerie called in the administrators in January after an accounting scandal.
About 70 of its 200 stores closed immediately, with 900 job losses.
Other high profile collapses included fashion firms LK Bennett and Forever 21, and bathroom chain Bathstore.
The Government last night named the first towns that will be helped by a £1billion taskforce aimed at reviving town centres.
But Lib Dem acting leader
Ed Davey said it would be “as effective as a chocolate teapot” in fighting back against the internet giants.
With wages lagging inflation, cash-strapped families increasingly use online sellers who can undercut brick-andmortar stores as they often pay very low rates of tax.
And the CRC’s Prof Joshua Bamfield said cuts to business rates were needed to help shops “thrive” again. Labour’s Wigan MP Lisa Nandy last night told the Daily Mirror: “A decade of Tory cuts has blighted our high streets with empty shops and payday lenders.
“They have no plan to give us back the wellpaid jobs we need to revive our high streets.
“After 10 years of failure, nobody will believe more of their empty promises.
“It’s up to our high street heroes to shop locally and save our town centres.” The Mirror has highlighted the plight of town centres in our ongoing High Street Fightback campaign.
Among our calls for action are a reform of business rates to level the playing field with the likes of online giant Amazon.
Its worldwide sales rocketed 24% to £53billion in the three months to September. Yet one of Amazon’s biggest UK operations paid just £1million last year in corporation tax, despite a £2.3billion turnover.
The figures relate to Amazon UK Services, which handles fulfilment centres and customer services.
Christmas offered little respite to struggling shops with early signs suggesting many slashed prices.
Meanwhile footfall for Boxing Day sales plunged 10.6% compared to last year – the biggest drop since 2010.
In the new year struggling retailers often go under when they are hit with a large quarterly rent bill.
And Craig Beaumont, from the Federation of Small Businesses, said two thirds of small retailers were “gloomy about the coming three months”.
Saying retailers were at the “heart of communities” he added: “There’s never been a more important moment to support local shops.
“When you spend locally, there’s a much greater chance small firms will re-spend, invest and hire locally.”
Tory cuts left high streets with payday lenders & closed shops
LISA NANDY ON BATTLE TO SAVE TOWN CENTRES