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Shop talk
Evening Standard comment24.10.07
The Conservatives are to launch an inquiry into the decline of small, independent shops.
The panel, including MPs and prominent retailers, will take evidence on the issue over the next couple of months and produce recommendations about how to reverse the trend.
In fact, as this paper's campaign to support small shops has shown, the reasons are not hard to find - not least, rising rents and rates, inexorable competition from chain stores and urban parking policies that discriminate against high street shops while favouring supermarkets that offer free parking.
Meanwhile, the Competition Commission is to report shortly on whether supermarkets are using unfair means to drive smaller competitors out of business. It is heartening that the Tories are moving this issue up the political agenda; the Government should now follow suit.
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