COVID and Brexit have amplified and accelerated hardships for both consumers and businesses across the UK while the threat of overseas retailers and manufacturers has been a thorn in our side for some time now. Competing with large business has been all but impossible for a few small businesses and most of those offer products or services which cannot be sold online. Is this really where we want to end up, no choice but online?
It is a well-documented fact; it won't be long before most of our local retailers have disappeared. This is dystopian future which is unacceptable!
Small businesses are defined as those that employ between 0 and 49 employees. The following stats on small businesses are related to private sector businesses and do not include the public sector. |
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Source: Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) – 2021. |