Former Asda boss Allan Leighton has said that retailers must rely on self-help rather than reviews, such as those carried out by Mary Portas and Bill Grimsey, to save the high street.

He said: “The best help in the world is self help. I’ve seen so many Government initiatives launched but I’ve never received anything as a result of them. If you try to hang on in for a hand me down then you’re waiting around.”

Leighton’s comments come a day after the Grimsey Review, carried out by former Focus boss Bill Grimsey, was unveiled at the Houses of Parliament. It is billed as the alternative high street review as it follows retail expert Mary Portas’ Government-backed review that was unveiled in 2011.

Leighton, who is now chief executive of jeweler Pandora and chairman of value giant Matalan, said that a raft of retailers had hit the buffers as there was “over capacity” in the market.

He said: “We all got into too much debt, everyone had too many stores. If you look at history it happens every 40 years.”

He said that charity shops and pound retailers were taking up space on high streets because consumers are driven by value in the current climate.

“If you walk down high streets they are almost all full. It tells you what the trends are and that people are looking for value. Value comes to the fore when economic conditions are how they are today,” he said.

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