This is one of the busiest shopping weeks of the year. As you jostle to get your Christmas shopping done, spare a thought for the great British shopkeeper.

For theirs is an increasingly precarious business, especially small independent shops on the high streets of our market towns.

Christmas is critical for many shops, with some making all their profit in the last 10 weeks of the year. That was certainly the experience of the bookshop business I helped to run,. Luckily Christmas comes each year.

But for the rest of the year our small independent shops need our custom if they are to stay in business for next Christmas.

There are several threats quite apart from the current slowdown in consumer spending. With increasing penetration by both the internet, smaller format supermarket stores, and the multiple chains entering market towns, competitive pressures on small shops has never been greater.

This impacts in many ways, with sales seeping away and cost pressures rising with higher rents and taxes, profitability and then viability can be at stake,

So I have joined the Conservative Enterprise Group's Commission into Small Shops on the High. Street. This is taking evidence this side of Christmas and is holding a session in Ludlow this Friday. Local groups in Shropshire and Ludlow itself will be airing their views.

We want to find ways to encourage vibrant town centres with thriving independent shops. We are looking at a range of issues from planning to policing, from rates to retail formats.

In Ludlow and other towns in Shropshire the parking scheme has caused controversy with many traders suffering. There is no easy solution, but intelligent parking schemes are important to encourage shoppers in to High Streets if independent shops are to survive in our small towns.