Even after some electoral success in the local council elections earlier this year, I have no realistic hopes of winning and I swore in 2017 I’d never go through this again. But here I am donning the Green rosette and polishing my debating skills.

The issues that brought me back to the hustings won’t be much of a surprise to many. Brexit and climate change are at the top of the list, but the plight of small businesses and retailers is never far from my thoughts.

There are 192,000 VAT-registered retailers in the UK, roughly 8 per cent of all registered businesses. Yet thousands of jobs can be lost in retail across the whole country and the government barely bats an eyelid.