Small Business Saturday is a grassroots, not-for-profit campaign designed to highlight the importance of small businesses in the community as well as providing them an economic boost on the day itself - which this year fell on Saturday, 1st December.

As part of Great British High Street week I visited several retail stores in Northampton. I went to Weston Favell Shopping Centre and St Giles’s Street to meet shopkeepers and show my support for British retail.

In the last fortnight Marks and Spencer’s made the announcement that at least 14 of their stores around the country are under threat of closure.

Figures released this month by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that unemployment has once again fallen.

In Northampton North there are 1,586 fewer claimants of unemployment benefits than in March 2010- a huge decrease of 58%.

On Friday, 23rd March I officially opened a new Vision Express store located inside the Tesco in the Weston Favell Shopping centre.