London mayor 'must focus on businesses'

Whichever candidate wins Thursday's London mayoral elections must consider how their policies impact upon the city's retailers, one organisation has suggested today.

British Retail Consortium spokesman Richard Dodd suggests that the retail sector acts as a barometer for the whole economy and says that the next London mayor must work to ensure the city's retail sector continues to thrive.

"Retail is tremendously important to London's economy. It's important in terms of the numbers employed [and also] the jobs it actually supports, including parts of the service sector and also in manufacturing," he comments.

The London electorate will go to the polls on Thursday to cast their votes for candidates including the current mayor Ken Livingstone, Boris Johnson and the Liberal Democrat candidate Brian Paddick.

According to figures from the London Retail Consortium, around 363,000 people are currently employed in the retail sector.