Vince Cable

Following last week's launch of the (Evening Standard) London wide campaign to support small shops badly affected, and driven out, by rising rents, rates and other costs, Vincent Cable, MP, has put down an Early Day Motion in parliament - co-signed by Susan Kramer, MP for Richmond Park, and representatives of other parties, reinforcing the campaign.

This morning Vincent Cable met local traders including the owner of Papillion's toy shop, a long standing feature of Whitton High Street, to discuss threats to small shops.

Vincent Cable said: "Rents, rates, and lack of high street parking are big issues but there are others coming over the horizon. The government is planning to remove the restrictions on Sunday trading hours. While garden centres, in particular, have become a popular Sunday fixture and there might be a welcome for longer opening, the effect of longer opening for supermarkets would probably be to drive a nail in the coffin of the small or specialist shop."

"Now is a time when local shops need all the help and support they can get. It is all the more regrettable therefore that the council is cutting back on our town centre managers."