Wake Up Britain: Your Spending = Your Jobs

WAKE UP BRITAIN!

Your Spending Habits Are Destroying Your Own Jobs

Every pound you spend on Amazon, Temu, or Chinese imports is a pound that could have created jobs in your community. You're literally funding your own unemployment.

THE BRUTAL TRUTH

When You Buy From China/Amazon:

  • ✗ £0.00 stays in your local economy
  • ✗ 0 local jobs created
  • ✗ £0 in local council tax revenue
  • ✗ Your high street dies
  • ✗ Your community becomes a ghost town
  • ✗ Your children have no local job prospects

When You Buy Local:

  • ✓ £0.63 of every £1 stays local
  • ✓ Creates jobs for your neighbours
  • ✓ Funds local services through business rates
  • ✓ Keeps your high street alive
  • ✓ Builds a thriving community
  • ✓ Secures your family's future

WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES

£100 Spent on Amazon/China

Result: Your community gets NOTHING

£100 Spent Locally

Result: £163 total economic benefit to your area

CALCULATE YOUR PERSONAL IMPACT

THE EVIDENCE IS OVERWHELMING

£39 Billion

UK trade deficit with China - money flowing OUT of Britain

£8.7 Billion

What UK councils spend with local firms annually

£4.5 Billion

Additional value created in local economies from that spending

Business Rates Crisis

Retailers account for just 5% of the economy but pay over 20% of business rates. When you shop online instead of locally, you're destroying the tax base that funds your local services.

Result: Local councils can't afford to maintain services, your area declines, property values fall, and your family's future is compromised.

PROOF IT WORKS: THE PRESTON MIRACLE

What Preston Did:

  • • Redirected public spending to local businesses
  • • Coordinated major institutions to buy local
  • • Focused on community wealth building

The Results:

  • • £74 million more kept in Preston annually
  • • 4,000+ workers now earn living wage
  • • Named UK's "Most Improved City"
  • • 9% increase in life satisfaction
  • • 11% improvement in mental health

If Preston can do it, so can YOUR community!

YOUR ACTION PLAN

IMMEDIATE ACTIONS (Start Today)

  1. Delete shopping apps - Remove Amazon, Temu, AliExpress from your phone
  2. Find local alternatives - Use Google Maps to find local shops
  3. Join local Facebook groups - Connect with community businesses
  4. Set a weekly target - Spend £20/week minimum in local shops
  5. Tell your family - Explain how their spending affects their future

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING (This Month)

  1. Start a local group - Use Totally Locally toolkit
  2. Contact your council - Demand Preston-style procurement
  3. Organize shop local events - Small Business Saturday style
  4. Create social media campaigns - Share the £5 message
  5. Pressure local employers - Get them to buy local too

POLITICAL PRESSURE POINTS

Demand Online Sales Tax

3% tax on remote sales to fund business rate cuts

Business Rates Reform

Stop penalizing physical shops vs online

Local Procurement Rules

Force councils to buy local like Preston

THE CHOICE IS YOURS

Continue As You Are:

  • • Your high street becomes a ghost town
  • • Your children have no local job prospects
  • • Your community dies
  • • Your property values collapse
  • • You become dependent on distant corporations

Change Your Habits:

  • • Create jobs for your neighbors
  • • Build a thriving local economy
  • • Secure your family's future
  • • Increase your property values
  • • Build community resilience

Every purchase is a vote for the future you want.

Stop voting against yourself!

TAKE ACTION NOW

Share this message with everyone you know. Your community's survival depends on it.

Based on research from Preston Council, New Economics Foundation, IPPR, and UK government data