NEWS SPECIAL
COVID-19 UPDATE FOR ALL THE LATEST CORONAVIRUS NEWS, HEAD TO WWW.SLRMAG.CO.UK/CATEGORY/NEWS/
the UK has edged up in
UK GOVERNMENT OBJECT TO NORRIS BILL
September despite the rise
IN THE LATEST BLOW FOR RETAILERS, THE UK GOVERNMENT HAS
in Covid-19 restrictions,
OBJECTED TO A NEW LAW TO PROTECT SHOP WORKERS FROM
according to the latest data
ASSAULT.
CONFIDENCE UP Consumer confidence in
from GfK’s long-running Consumer Confidence Index.
UK TALKS Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon has written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson calling for urgent four nation talks to continue to drive coronavirus transmission to the lowest possible level.
DON’T PANIC Major supermarkets including
The local retailing industry has received another blow in its campaign to secure more support for shop workers as the UK Government objected to a Bill to protect shop workers from violent attacks. Promoted by Alex Norris MP (Labour/Co-op, Nottingham North), the Assaults on Retail Workers (Offences) Bill was timetabled for its second reading in the House of Commons on Friday, but the Government objected to it progressing and it is now delayed until Friday 30 October.
Last week 23 British retailers and the sector’s leading industry bodies wrote to the Prime Minister asking him to provide effective legal protection for shop workers in the face of rising levels of abuse and violence and in support of Alex Norris’ Private Members Bill.
Tesco and Morrisons have begun introducing buying limits per person on basic products like flour, dried pasta, toilet roll, baby wipes and anti-bacterial wipes in an attempt to prevent bulk panic buying.
LOCKDOWN THREAT An October ‘circuit breaker’ second lockdown will turn the lights out permanently on an extra 5,000 stores, warns home delivery ParcelHero. 20,000 stores are already expected to fail this year.
WAITROSE FORECASTS ANOTHER BAKING BOOM Waitrose is predicting its biggest ever surge in baking ingredient sales, thanks to the lockdown and the latest series of the Great British Bake Off. The retailer experienced strong sales growth during lockdown and is now preparing for another baking boom this autumn. The company expects breads, cookies and brownies to be amongst the most popular bakes of 2020 with bread mix sales already up 103% compared to last year, while sales of cooking chocolate and Waitrose Dark Chocolate Chips have risen by 55% and 274% respectively.
8 I SLRMAG.CO.UK / ISSUE 24 / WEDNESDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER 2020
