Right On Queue...Time To Splash The Cash

Britain rushed from coronavirus lockdown yesterday – and treated itself to £1billion of retail therapy.

- Giles Sheldrick

With staggered openings making for 14 hours of spending, families splashed out at a rate equal to £71million an hour, said industry sources. High street shops finally reopened their doors after 12 tough weeks.

And millions of shoppers flocked to towns and cities and did what the nation does best – queuing.

Some even camped overnight to be the first inside before releasing three months of pent up frustration with a huge spending frenzy.

Yesterday’s fillip comes as Chancellor Rishi Sunak mulls a temporary VAT cut to help consumer confidence in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

If he does intervene it would mark the same tactic taken by former chancellor Alastair Darling during the 2008 financial crisis.

The standard rate increased from 17.5 per cent to 20 per cent in January 2011. But some experts think Mr Sunak could sanction a more radical approach by bringing down the tax on most goods and services to 15 per cent, or lower, to mitigate the effects of the greatest economic emergency since the 1930s depression.

The action, which would be welcomed by millions of hardpressed families, follows news the economy shrank by 20 per cent in April alone, wiping off two decades of growth.

Helen Dickinson, of the British Retail Consortium, said: “The Government needs to stand ready to support consumer demand over the coming months.