Following Labour’s election victory a year ago Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the country that "change is here". Twelve months on much has changed – the question for retailers is whether, to take an older Labour soundbite, things have indeed got better.

There has been plenty of coverage of the challenges. The Autumn Budget saw significant rises to the cost of employing workers. The swingeing increases to employers’ national insurance contributions, coupled with above-inflation hike to the national living wage, disproportionally hits retail which is the country’s largest private sector employer.

These measures are costing UK retailers £5 billion this year. Indeed, the cost of employing people in entry-level jobs has risen by over 10% for full-time and 13% for part-time workers, reducing future job availability.

That will also lead to change, but not for the better. We estimate these increases will threaten 13,000 part-time jobs in Scottish retail over the next three years.

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