Woman slams Rishi Sunak over Brexit after four independent businesses close in PM's constituency

Rishi Sunak has been slammed over his support of Brexit after four independent businesses in his constituency have been forced to close.

Small business owner Jo Foster, from Richmond in North Yorkshire, told the Prime Minister during an LBC Radio call-in that four local firms in the area shut their doors last week.

She said: "I don’t suppose you’ve heard the news but last week was a very sad one here. Four of our very well established, small, independent businesses announced that they are shutting their doors because keeping going is no longer financially viable. Talking to fellow small businesses, not just here but around the country, many more are on the brink."

The Guardian reported that York House antiques, in Richmond, would be closing at Christmas, while The Fleece Hotel, Cross View Tearooms and Ravensworth Nurseries, which has traded for 57 years, were shutting with immediate effect.

Ms Foster cited “increased taxes, soaring cost, impact of Brexit, difficulty finding staff, all combined with the fact that it was your government that crashed the economy and left people without any spare disposable income to spend”.

She asked Sunak: “What are you going to do about the fact that your Tory policies are causing small businesses to shut up shop?”

He revealed that the pair had debated Brexit previously, saying: "Jo and I, as you can probably tell, don’t share the same politics. We’ve had healthy debates on Brexit in the past, she was very upset that I supported Brexit - however I think that was the right thing to do."

The Prime Minister denied that Brexit was “the reason that some businesses are struggling at the moment”, pointing instead to energy bills and inflation, which he said were “now coming down”.

He said it was “obviously sad” the four small businesses in Richmond were closing, some of which he said he knew “personally”.

He continued: “Every business is going to have different circumstances and what happens in the economy (is that) businesses are always opening as well and starting up. And I’ve seen lots of that when I’ve been out and about recently, which is great to see.”

Sunak supported Brexit, however played a low-key role in the referendum campaign. He recently told reporters that Brexit was working, citing cheaper beer and sanitary products.

However Ms Foster was not the only person in the Prime Minister's constituency, who blamed the Leave vote for small businesses closing.

Paul Harrison, chair of the Original Richmond Business and Tourism Association, told the Guardian: "Richmond is reeling with shock. In one week four significant businesses have announced closure, two of which have been very long established. It is a very bleak situation.

"I think the environment that has been created for businesses now is the most difficult I’ve ever known. It is the combination of all these different things and, yes, Brexit is part of the formula.

"People don’t want to talk about Brexit and I don’t understand why. Even the most straightforward thing like the exchange rate – anything that has been imported, including food, has been impacted by Brexit."

This comes after the pollsters YouGov found that "Bregret" - Brexit regret - currently stands at its highest recorded level after the referendum. According to YouGov, 57% of voters believed Brexit was a mistake while just 32% thought Brexit was the correct decision. YouGov also found a majority of voters, 51%, now want to rejoin the EU.

Fellow pollsters Deltapoll also found 51% of respondents want to rejoin the bloc whilst 34% are content outside of the EU. Omnisis also found the same result among voters, with a solid and growing margin in favour of rejoining, although this was short of a majority.

Earlier today, a leading MP told NationalWorld that a Brexit climbdown over product safety marks by the government was a "total mess".