White said a rethink was needed to make town centres “once more welcoming places where people want to live, work and spend time”, citing the closure of 6,000 shops in the UK in the past five years.

Writing in The Telegraph newspaper today, White said: “Too many towns and cities are shells of their former selves. Boarded-up shops left vacant, dwindling numbers of banks and post offices. And in their place seemingly endless rows of vaping and charity shops.”