Retailers and politicians need to help each other

With Peter Mandelson addressing the British Retail Consortium dinner this week, the Liberal Democrats gathering at Bournemouth for their conference and the Tories starting to talk about retail, politics took centre stage this week.

Retailers generally prefer to be left alone by politicians, if only because when politicians do get involved in the sector their actions tend to be utterly unhelpful. Last year’s VAT cut is a case in point.

But both groups need each other. Politicians are waking up to the fact that we are now a service economy and retail is going to be a key driver of jobs and economic growth.

Retailers on the other hand need Westminster to start to understand their business. With the state of public finances it’s going to be hard to get any sort of concessions out of the new government, and a VAT rise to 20% looks ominously likely, whoever wins next year’s general election.

But what retailers must demand is a better understanding of the industry’s needs. A review of the role of the Business department – or whatever it happens to be called this week – is long overdue. A change in the business rates system to ensure retailers only pay their fair share of the burden is also needed.

As a sector that employs more people than any other in the private sector, retail has huge power. If nothing else, the 2.8 million people who work in the industry have a huge amount of influence at the ballot box. Before casting their votes next year, they should take time out to find out what the parties’ policies are for the business they work in before putting their X in the box.

The height of fashion

Somewhere political figures from Boris Johnson to Sarah Brown couldn’t be missed this week was London Fashion Week. Whatever you thought of the collections, this year’s event was a masterstroke in promotion for an industry that is at the heart of creative Britain.

As the old economy comes under ever greater threat from globalisation, the creative industries at which this country excels are where we as a nation can really grow our exports. As Burberry’s move back to London showed, this country is where it’s at and it’s not just the designers and the product, but great stores at every level of the market – such as the new Topman flagship – that make fashion a sector this country can be proud of.