All Policy & legal articles – Page 55
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AnalysisData: The retailers expanding and retreating from high streets in 2020
New data compiled by the Local Data Company charts both the toll the coronavirus crisis has taken on many UK retailers but also highlights the categories that are proving more resilient.
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NewsPrimark calls for longer Christmas opening hours post-lockdown
Primark chiefs want extended trading hours post-lockdown to cater for pent-up demand and have reaffirmed their faith in its pureplay bricks-and-mortar model despite the latest lockdown.
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NewsSadiq Khan calls for business rates holiday extension
London mayor Sadiq Khan has written to housing secretary Robert Jenrick calling for an extension of the business rates holiday for retail and hospitality businesses in the capital.
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Opinion‘Online isn’t enough to sustain retail – effective test and trace is needed’
“The more precisely we try to predict it, the less likely we are to be right.” That’s what Next chief executive Lord Wolfson told Retail Week about his Christmas scenario planning just a few days ago.
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NewsBRC calls on government to slash rates by 50% to avoid April ‘cliff edge’
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has called on chancellor Rishi Sunak to slash business rates by 50% to “better reflect falling footfall and market rates” and avoid a potential “cliff edge” in April.
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NewsSupermarket bosses push Sunak for business rates reform
Chief executives of Tesco and Morrisons are among the signatories of a letter to Rishi Sunak urging him to use business rates reform to “level up” the country.
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News
Welsh supermarkets to be given discretion over non-essential items ban
The Welsh first minister has said the ban on grocers selling non-essential items as part of the region’s fire break lockdown will have some flexibility after the measures drew complaints.
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Opinion‘Lockdown shambles is bad for retailers and consumers’
From Wales to Westminster, a confused and sometimes politically partisan response to the resurgent Covid-19 outbreak is threatening retail’s recovery.
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NewsSunak unveils changes to job support scheme as golden quarter kicks off
The chancellor has today announced new business support schemes to deal with the ongoing coronavirus crisis, including changes to the job support scheme that replaces furlough at the end of the month.
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NewsLiverpool footfall plummets to July levels in first week of Tier 3 restrictions
Footfall in Liverpool has plunged to levels last seen at the end of the national lockdown in the summer, in the week since it became the first city to be placed into the government’s highest tier of Covid-19 restrictions.
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NewsNext accused of destroying ‘vital documents’ in equal pay claim
Fashion retailer Next is being accused of destroying “vital documents” related to a £200m equal pay claim being brought against it by staff.
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NewsRetail footfall slumps as three-tier Covid restrictions take effect
The government’s three-tiered Covid restrictions have had an “immediate impact” on retail footfall across the UK after coming into force late last week.
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News‘Non-essential’ retail ordered to close in Welsh and Irish lockdowns
All ’non-essential retailers’ in Wales and the Republic of Ireland must close as a new Covid-19 lockdown comes into force.
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AnalysisThe Big Question: Will Tier 2 lockdowns kibosh retail’s recovery?
As the Covid pandemic continues, swathes of the UK face local lockdown measures designed to lower rates of infection.
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Opinion‘The 12 trends of Christmas – festive retail under Covid’
As Christmas nears, there is little seasonal cheer as retailers anticipate a Golden Quarter characterised by levels of volatility and uncertainty they have rarely, if ever, experienced before.
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NewsRetail ‘will remain open’ under strictest local lockdowns, PM says
Retailers will be allowed to continue trading even under the strictest local lockdown measures coming into force on Wednesday.
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NewsDigital retailers appointed to bolster BRC board in changing landscape
Two digital retail leaders have joined the board of trade body the BRC, bringing key experience as the organisation adapts to the continuing Covid emergency and the rise of online shopping.
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NewsFactory workers denied £27m in wages since July, BRC warns
Tens of thousands of factory workers have been denied £27m in wages since July, the British Retail Consortium has warned, as it increases pressure on the home secretary to respond.
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AnalysisAnalysis: What could the end of duty-free mean for retail?
Duty-free shopping will come to an end as part of the government’s Brexit plans, which has unwelcome implications for the retail industry.
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OpinionPeter Williams: ‘A second wave, curfews, empty offices – is this as good as it gets?’
By now we had all hoped that there would be a predictable path back to some kind of steady-state resembling where we were pre-Covid.

















