Penny Mordaunt MP Pledges Support for Local Shops in Portsmouth North

Penny Mordaunt MP has pledged support for the 65 convenience stores in Portsmouth North at the Association of Convenience Stores’ Heart of the Community reception in Parliament to celebrate the essential role that local shops play in our communities.

ACS’ Heart of the Community is an annual event which brings together retailers from across the convenience sector to speak to MPs about their business and the challenges that they face on a day to day basis. This year’s reception celebrated positive stories from across the sector and focused on how national policy debates could impact the running of local convenience store businesses.

Penny said: “Convenience stores in my constituency play a key role in the local communities that they serve, from providing jobs and flexible working to community activity and tackling the issue of loneliness. I am pleased to be able to support local shops and the people who run them and look forward to working with this important sector.”

ACS chief executive James Lowman said: “Convenience stores are essential to the economy and communities across the UK and we welcome the support of Penny Mordaunt MP. The convenience sector continues to adapt and develop and we have seen how retailers continue to invest in their stores to ensure that they are meeting consumer needs, but they face a number of challenges in the operation of their businesses as a result of policy decisions, including those on food, services and crime. We look forward to working with Penny Mordaunt MP in the future on these issues and the other challenges that local shops face.”

The 2019 Local Shop Report revealed that the 46,388 stores in the UK convenience sector currently employ around 405,000 people, generating sales of over £40.3bn over the last year.

The convenience sector contributed over £8.8bn in GVA over the last year, as well as over £7.7bn in direct and indirect taxes like excise duties, VAT, business rates and corporation tax.

For more information about the Association of Convenience Stores, visit: http://www.acs.org.uk/.