Northern Ireland Conservatives’ chairman, Irwin Armstrong, has accused the Finance Minister of showing, “completely unnecessary aggression” toward some of Northern Ireland’s biggest retail employers.
“The idea of offering rates relief to smaller businesses is laudable enough”, Irwin commented, “but you have to question the way Sammy Wilson is going about this. He seems to be doing his best to pick a fight with some of Northern Ireland’s largest retailers and with Tesco in particular. It’s simply not necessary to bandy about words like ‘pathetic’, which can only stoke resentment and ill-will from a company that intends to bring more jobs to our province and already employs over 9,000 people.”
“We support the principle of rates relief for small retailers and companies, but we do have concerns about funding it through a large retailer levy. It should be remembered that Wilson’s plans will not only hit the large ‘out of town’ stores, they will also affect high street chains like Marks & Spencer and House of Fraser, which traditionally draw shoppers to our town centres.”
“These proposals need to be looked at in the round and scrutinised more closely to ensure that they don’t end up actually hurting the small and medium retailers which they are designed to help. There is a debate to be had and Tesco is learning that when anyone questions Sammy Wilson the reply is usually bullying and torrents of abuse rather than a constructive discussion.”