Press

Retailers Against Smuggling (RAS) and Retail NI launched their second annual survey at the second high-level roundtable discussion in Belfast to tackle Brexit, the Border & the Black Market. Members of the Irish Government, An Garda Síochána, the PSNI and HMRC will meet to discuss the issues that retailers on both sides of the border will face in the coming months and years.

Retail NI, the membership organisation which represents thousands of independent retail traders in Northern Ireland, has backed the campaign to save local community pharmacies which are under attack due to a lack of financial support from the Department of Health.  

Chief Executive, Glyn Roberts, has urged everyone in the business community to sign the Community Pharmacy NI petition to address the worrying fact that local pharmacists are dispensing at a loss and require an emergency package to plug a £20 million funding gap – before many pharmacies are forced to shut.

Commenting on the decision of the Cabinet to approve the Heathrow Expansion, Retail NI Chief Executive Glyn Roberts said:

“This is a very welcome decision by the Cabinet and would urge all MPs to give their support to the Heathrow expansion in the forthcoming parliamentary vote”

“An expanded Heathrow is vital for improving Northern Ireland’s connectivity to the rest of the world and will be a big boost to our transport infrastructure and local economy”

“More visitors and tourists mean more spending in our local retail and hospitality sectors”

The Chief Executives of Manufacturing NI, Retail NI and Hospitality Ulster,  hosted an economy themed round table meeting with the Leader of the Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn MP, Shadow Brexit Secretary Sir Keir Starmer MP and Shadow Northern Ireland Secretary Tony Lloyd MP.

In a joint statement Glyn Roberts, Colin Neill and Stephen Kelly said: