The chief executive of Marks & Spencer believes the UK is fast becoming a very divided nation: the rich who live inside the M25 – and the rest.
Speaking earlier this month, Sir Stuart Rose said there was a widening gulf between the have-nots and the have-a-lots, which is now wider than he had seen in 35 years behind the counter of stores such as M&S, Burton and Dorothy Perkins. “I have never seen such a polarised UK economy,” he said. “The rich are so very, very rich. The West End can’t get enough diamonds. But the poor are getting poorer. Outside London it is a completely different economy.”