Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Former Dragons’ Den star and entrepreneur Theo Paphitis slams ‘government of depression’

Theo Paphitis, who has launched an astonishing attack on the Government (Ian West/PA Wire)
Theo Paphitis, who has launched an astonishing attack on the Government (Ian West/PA Wire)

 

THEO Paphitis has launched an astonishing attack on the Government, branding Theresa May’s administration as “incompetent” and accusing it of posing a threat to the high street.

The entrepreneur behind Ryman, Robert Dyas and Boux Avenue told the Press Association that retailers are “getting it right in the neck” as the sector struggles with labour costs, the apprenticeship levy, soaring business rates and the collapse in sterling following the Brexit vote.

The former Dragons’ Den star also described the near-daily shambolic happenings at Westminster as nothing short of a “farce”.

He said: “It’s a Whitehall farce, it’s like The Thick Of It and Yes Minister all rolled into one, except that it’s not funny any more. It’s extremely sad for the businesses that have people to pay.

“It’s depressing, all this self-inflicted doom and gloom. This will go down as the ‘Government of depression’.”

Toby Young quits as universities regulator amid furore over ‘ill-judged’ tweets

His comments come a day after Mrs May’s Cabinet reshuffle, which has been roundly ridiculed.

Mr Paphitis also hit out at the way the Government taxes high street retailers compared to their online peers.

He said: “Thirty per cent of all sales are online now, the Government can’t keep taxing the same people.

“Online is not contributing in the same way as the high street, in terms of business rates and to the local community.”

As well as reeling from the widely criticised hike in business rates ushered in last year, sterling’s collapse since the Brexit vote has seen costs and shop prices rocket.

The result has been diminishing consumer spending power and falling household confidence, hitting retailers hard.

Mothercare and Debenhams have both issued profit warnings in January, House Of Fraser has written to landlords to seek rent reductions and New Look has had credit insurance pulled.

It follows a torrid 2017 for the high street, which saw Feather & Black, Multiyork and Store Twenty One collapse, while Toys R Us came close to the brink.

Co-op boss: Shoppers are going back to the future and giving hope to our high streets

Tory policy is “lagging well behind the development of the retail sector globally”, Mr Paphitis added, which is creating uncertainty and risk for retailers and the economy.

He said: “With very little interest shown by Government in this key economic pillar, it really does feel like retail as we know it is creeping closer and closer towards the precipice.

“We continue to watch this space carefully but are not confident of improvements and see it as the biggest risk to our high street and physical shops.”

Asked why the Government has not shown any impetus in helping rejuvenate the high street, Mr Paphitis added: “Sometimes you have to look at the obvious: incompetence. Someone has to call it like it is.”

Mr Paphitis added the high street should “no question” expect more administrations this year.

In better news for the businessman, two of his outlets celebrated a rise in like-for-like sales in the six weeks to December 24.

Ryman saw growth of 4.8% and Robert Dyas 2%, although Boux Avenue booked a 2.8% decline.