Look at the Poundland scandal and see a crisis that goes beyond Britain’s high streets | Polly Toynbee

‘I look out for my team,’ a store manager tells me, but Poundland’s US owner doesn’t care. Labour may be too late to prevent it becoming yet another casualty of venture capital

In the Poundland I visit, a treasure trove of bargains, the staff are dejected. The shelves are emptying because the owners have withheld £50m needed for new stock and paying wages. It’s just one of 600 stores in peril, and these employees just a few of 12,000 at risk of losing their jobs – with 30,000 jobs at risk in supply chains.

On Tuesday £10m was released: not enough, but preventing instant collapse. Gordon Brothers, the US owner that bought Poundland for a symbolic £1 last year, specialises in buying and “restructuring” distressed companies. Under pressure, it extended the deadline by 10 working days before putting this profitable business into administration. It profits more by closing Poundland down and breaking it up.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

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