The leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, came to Brixton Market Row last month to launch a report on helping small businesses in the UK.
Party bigwigs jostled with business owners and reporters in the covered market, but the event wasn’t all fluffy PR for the market owners.
In a broadside clearly aimed at market landlord In Shops, Tessa Jowell MP told the audience: “These are the ‘getting better’ times for Brixton Market but it…needs decent freeholders who the minute businesses begin to get off their knees and begin to make some profit don’t then put the rents up, so the rents become unaffordable”. Referencing the presence of Groupe Geraud at the event, she said: “and we know who’s listening don’t we?”
Miliband also found time to meet with Saja Shaheen, of Nour Cash and Carry, who last year campaigned against a massive rent rise for her family business by In Shops.
Launching the report itself, and rather more on party message, Chuka Umunna told the Blog: “We’ve chosen to come and launch our report amongst small businesses in their home.”
Please put a Starbucks in the covered market, this is all she goes on about.
I hate this with every fibre of my being, look at them both. Literally multi millionaires all smug at mixing it with the proles at our wonderful market. Champagne socialists.