Retail accounts for just 5% of the UK economy, but its visibility on the high street gives it an outsize influence on public perception. Across Britain, boarded-up shops have become a common sight, with banks and department stores replaced by vape shops, barbers and bookmakers. Shoplifting is at a record high, local services have been cut, and public frustration is mounting.
Research shows support for Reform UK is higher in areas with the biggest rise in persistent high street vacancy rates. In 2024, almost 13,000 shops—about 37 a day—closed permanently, with closures most pronounced in northern England, the Midlands and deprived coastal towns. Polling by YouGov and Faster Horses found 62% of voters considering backing Reform think their local area is in decline. One focus group participant described it as “soul destroying to watch your local area turn to shit”.
Analysis by Professor Thiemo Fetzer of the University of Warwick links high shop closure rates to support for right-wing populist parties. He argues that visible decline channels anger at structural change, even among those who personally feel they are “doing fine”. “They see and feel their community around them eroding,” he said. “That for me is one of the main drivers of populism.”
Almost half of Britons do not visit their high street weekly, citing too few interesting shops and too many empty ones. Online spending has risen from under 3% of retail sales in 2006 to over 25%, accelerated by the pandemic. Retailers also face higher costs from inflation, interest rates, taxes, regulations and the rising minimum wage, while business rates disadvantage bricks-and-mortar shops versus online warehouses.
Underinvestment in transport, policing, healthcare and social services has compounded the problem. Shoplifting offences rose 13% to over half a million in the year to June 2025. Professor Fetzer warns of a “non-linear tipping point where you cascade into oblivion”, a pattern seen not just in the UK but across Europe and Germany, particularly in mid-sized towns.
