Morrisons and supermarkets should now help smaller shops – The Yorkshire Post says

However time will tell whether the increase, the biggest in more than a quarter of a century, will translate into profits – the large stores have incurred significant costs adapting to the demands of this challenge.

Yet, in fairness, they did keep the shelves stocked – once the panic buying had calmed down – and they continue to do their best to prioritise the needs of their most vulnerable customers. And there’s recognition that some changes – like strict control on the number of people entering the stores at any one time – could become more permanent.

Now it is to be hoped that the experience of the major supermarkets, like Yorkshire-based Morrisons and Asda, can be utilised when it comes to the reopening of non-essential shops, including independent stores, from June 15 if the Covid-19 rate continues to recede.

Their knowledge of Government guidelines could be incalculable at this point and crucial, too, to the gradual reopening of high streets and town centres across the region.

A spirit of mutual co-operation could be, potentially, priceless if people are to be persuaded that it is safe to leave their homes and venture back to their local high street in its hour of need.

And it is one area of the economic recovery where change can be entrusted to local communities using their initiative to support the greater good rather than waiting for Ministers to make a pronouncement. To paraphrase a more recent political slogan, we’re still all in this together.

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson