The FSB is asking members to secure the support of customers, suppliers, family and friends for the ‘Keep Trade Local' campaign. This aims to secure the future of small shops across the UK and safeguard the choice and competition that people expect in the market place.

The House of Commons All-Party Small Shops Group estimates that there will be no independent retailers by 2015. During the course of three investigations in seven years the Competition Commission has consistently failed to understand the value to consumers of small independent shops. Its latest inquiry has again completely missed the point.

For the past three years small independent shops have been closing at a rate if 5,000 per year in the UK. This has risen alarmingly in 2009, when 25,000 small shops - 10per cent of the total - closed in the first nine months of the year. There are estimated to be another 50,000 shops teetering on the brink.

The FSB therefore aims to halt the closure of those 50,000 businesses under threat of extinction. Why not support us in this vital task by placing a 'Keep Trade Local' sticker in your window and urging customers to continue to support their local independent retail outlets.