All-Party report calls for retail regulator
The All-Party Small Shops Group has demanded a wide range of measures to protect small and independent retailers in the UK.

In its High Street Britain 2015 report, it warned that smaller retailers could disappear from high streets, and called for drastic action to curb the expansion of the UK's big retailers.

The MPs' demands include that the Government suspends takeovers until plans to secure the diversity of the sector are brought forward. It also wants a regulator and comprehensive code of practice, as well as a revision of the retail property market and Post Office network.

If smaller stores are squeezed out, the group said local communities would feel the social, economic and environmental consequences.

'The erosion of small shops is viewed as the erosion of the social glue that binds communities together,' it said.

However, the report has been slated by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), which accused the group of 'trying to turn the clock back and reverse some well-established trends in consumer shopping habits'.

Instead, supermarkets and large multiples have grown to meet the changing needs of customers, said BRC director-general Kevin Hawkins.

'We are disappointed that the committee has not grasped the realities of modern retailing,' he added. 'The secret of success for the small retailer is to offer consumers something different, something better and something targeted very precisely at a particular portion of the market.'

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