What Is the Point of Small Shops?

One reason the Liberal Democrats have managed to look so successful in Islington is that previous Labour administration left them a spectacular windfall - a vast portfolio of real estate.

The Labour regime in Islington refused as a matter of policy to ever sell any of their sprawling estate, with the result that 1. they established for themselves a reputation as poor managers and 2. they left their political opponents a rich source of income. Margaret Thatcher's chancellors had to produce ex-privatisation revenue receipts, but a local authority is way below that kind of scrutiny. The money has gone into the council's coffers and distributed at the whim of the ruling party.

The lastest sell-off is a job-lot of shop leases on Essex Road. Labour councillors are up in arms. Huff this, puff that, sell-off, rip-off, public heaven, private hell, developers, chain-stores, capitalism, globalisation... .

Really? Essex Road? There is already a Sainsbury and a Tesco on Essex Road, and most of the chain stores are represented at the Angel and on Holloway Road. No one is any longer capable of counting the number of Starbucks on Upper Street, but plenty of people seem to want to go into them.

But there are some fundamental questions here. The first is obvious - why should the London Borough of Islington be a commercial landlord? In my view it should not be. I want my council tax to go into education, social services, cleaning and maintaining the borough. I do not expect them to be spending my money randomly subsidising businesses. That said, I would not mind if the current leaseholders and/or tenants were offered a discount to buy out the council's interest.

The second question is why does the Labour party - anyway in Islington - automatically oppose the 'Tescopoly' of modern retail? Supermarkets are generally good for the poor. They provide better quality products at lower prices than small shops. They represent the industrialisation of food and grocery distribution that you might expect socialist theory to welcome. They provide better employment conditions, better benefits, training and more opportunity than any small shop could hope to provide.

Instead of standing up for small shopkeepers, who will express their gratitude by voting Lib Dem and Tory, should Labour not campaign to ensure supermarkets are more accessible to those who cannot affort cars?