Why ‘shop local’ matters more than ever – The Yorkshire Post says

This latest lockdown – and the prevailing economic uncertainty – will only add to the growing financial pressures facing many independent stores in spite of the support being made available by the Treasury.

This is why The Yorkshire Post and its sister titles at JPIMedia are stepping up our #supportlocal campaign – a successful feature of the first lockdown – to urge readers to try, wherever possible, to back local firms.

Even the promise of advance orders could mean the difference between these shops, which contribute so much to the vibrancy and vitality of high streets and town centres, surviving – or not.

But this needs to backed by far more sustained Government action from the long-overdue review of business rates to the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy being front and centre of the national response to the pandemic and recession.

Under Margaret Thatcher and then John Major, the Conservatives prided themselves on being the party of small business.

Yet the fact that there’s little awareness of the work being undertaken by Paul Scully, whose responsibilities as Small Business Minister include retail, does not reflect will on him, his department or the Prime Minister when many local firms and enterprises, built on years of hard work, are facing the financial fight of their lives.

Given this backdrop, ministerial – and public – support has never been more important. Or urgent.

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