George Osborne finds some friends

Shadow chancellor George Osborne needs all the help he can get, but he’s scored a real coup today with many of retail’s top leaders coming out to support his plans to reverse the government’s planned rise in National Insurance.

Some of the signatories are well-known Tory supporters like Next’s Simon Wolfson and carpet king Lord Harris, and Stuart Rose and Justin King also have definite leanings towards David Cameron’s party. But others like Mothercare’s Ben Gordon and Alastair McGeorge of Matalan are the last people you’d expect to stick their heads above the parapet on anything political and that shows the depth of feeling on this issue, and how the government has got it wrong.

It’s no wonder the retailers feel so strongly because National Insurance is to all intents and purposes a tax on jobs. Retail, as a labour intensive industry and one of the few sectors of the economy still creating jobs, feels the impact of NI rises particularly strongly and it’s absolutely right that they speak up and spell out exactly what this stealth tax rise will mean to the economy.

Yesterday I went down to Westfield to see Sir Terence Conran and Conran Shop MD Nick Moore at the opening of their new pop up shop down there. The shop showcases the Well Considered range, a more affordable line which The Conran Shop launched last year to attract younger shoppers who might previously have considered the Conran brand too expensive.

Sir Terence has been a supporter of Retail Week since the beginning - he sat on Patience Wheatcroft’s first editorial advisory board - and while he’s getting on a bit these days, he is still fascinating company and talks with real passion about design. He also draws the crowds and there were a decent number of shoppers queuing up for photographs with him signing mugs for them.

Nick’s a nice guy and has really got to grips with the business since he joined from Natuzzi a few years ago. We had a coffee in Caffe Concerto in Westfield’s Village area which is at the end of a cul-de-sac of posh clothes shops. I didn’t see anyone go in any of them in about 45 minutes, and the Cafe was deserted too.The main centre was busy enough, but not a lot of them appeared to be buyers, and there were quite a few kids hanging around after school. Weekend trade continues to be very brisk though.

Have a good Easter.