HARRIETT Baldwin has started her Christmas shopping early to support Small Business Saturday this weekend.

The West Worcestershire MP took a tour of shops in Pershore town centre to show her support for small independent traders and promote SBS, which is a national initiative to encourage people to shop in their local stores.

Mrs Baldwin visited Persora, a new gift store and gallery based in High Street, which has undergone extensive refurbishment and now offer an extensive range of high quality homeware, jewellery and gifts.

She said: "Small Business Saturday is an important national initiative and I encourage local people to make an effort to get out onto their local high street and show support for small traders. There’s also a really good loyalty card scheme for Pershore shoppers and shops like Three Little Pigs and Blue have done a great job encouraging more people into the town. Shops like Persora make a huge contribution to our local economy and our long term economic success depends on making sure that we create the right conditions for these businesses to thrive. I will be shopping local this Christmas and I hope that people across West Worcestershire do the same.”