Our Forecourt, Power and Convenience Conference was a real success, and I wanted to share some of the things I learned:
Our Forecourt, Power and Convenience Conference was a real success, and I wanted to share some of the things I learned:
The Local Government Association has called for a ban on disposable vapes by 2024. I wanted to reflect on why this group positing this sort of “solution” is a clickbait contribution to the debate on vaping.
The dust has settled a little on the postponement of Scotland’s Deposit Return Scheme until October 2025, and the collapse of Circularity Scotland. Our Government Relations Director Ed Woodall has been at the heart of discussions on DRS in Scotland and across the UK, so I’m passing this blog to him to reflect on what we’ve learned and where we go next…
Thanks to everyone who took part in our study tour to Stockholm last week. There’s no better way of meeting colleagues from the industry and discussing common issues than when you’re in stores looking at good practice from another market. The fresh perspective certainly opens people’s minds and always leads to some really positive conversations.
This week we launched our Local Shop Report, and it was great to see so many of you in Manchester to be among the first to get the information and to have the chance to discuss it with colleagues in the industry.
I’ve been pleased to see this week more companies and sector organisations – in farming and the care industry – raising concerns about the chancellor’s decision to introduce a national living wage at £7.20 in April 2016, rising to at least £9 by 2020.
This week we took a trip over the Severn Bridge to the Welsh Assembly in Cardiff for a meeting of the Cross Party Group on Small Shops. As with All Party Groups in Westminster, these groups can provide a useful focal point for discussing issues relating to particularly industries or issues, and before I forget, here is more information on the inquiry being led by the Small Shops Group in Westminster into Britain’s Everyday Entrepreneurs, which we helped launch in June.
David Cameron has today urged businesses to give their staff a pay rise. Clearly the Government’s economic analysis is that with inflation low, increasing wages would give further fuel to UK plc’s growth at little risk.
That macroeconomic analysis may be correct, but I have to start my response by looking at the microeconomic picture – the costs and income that dictate the way that businesses are run. There are two problems for our sector with a strategy based on a hike in wages, and specifically in the National Minimum Wage.
Announcing business rates reform was the easy bit. Now the Chancellor has to work out what changes to this £26bn tax revenue stream will be fairer, pro-growth, fiscally responsible and popular.
Announcing business rates reform was the easy bit. Now the Chancellor has to work out what changes to this £26bn tax revenue stream will be fairer, pro-growth, fiscally responsible and popular.