THE Great British high street is being allowed to “wither and die,” a trade union leader warned today as it reported that 135,000 retail jobs have been lost during the pandemic. 

Analysis of official figures by the GMB union found that in 2019 there were an estimated 1.2 million sales and retail assistants, cashiers and check-out operators. 

But by 2021 that number had dropped to just under 1,075,000 — a fall of almost 135,000 workers.