New overnight figures from the British Retail Consortium:
You take the high street, I’ll take the low…
A whopping 65% of retail bosses say they expect to raise prices under Rachel Reeves, according to a British Retail Consortium poll of Finance Directors covering more than 9,000 UK stores. They fear Reeves will ramp up taxes again this autumn on top of her ‘Awful April’ bills which have already squeezed businesses across the sector…
The survey also found:
BRC’s CEO Helen Dickinson said:
“Retail was squarely in the firing line of the last Budget, with the industry hit by £7 billion in new costs and taxes. Given their slim margins and the rising cost of employing staff, price rises were inevitable. Retail accounts for 5% of the economy yet currently pays 7.4% of business taxes and a whopping 21% of all business rates.”
The BRC now predicts food inflation will be up to 6% by the end of the year. Things can only get worse for ‘working people’…
Another day, another blow to the economy thanks to Reeves. Consumer confidence has crashed to a record low of -37 according to new figures from the British Retail Consortium. Drops for a fifth month in a row…
BRC boss Helen Dickinson warns that shop owners will have no choice but to jack up prices and slash jobs just to survive thanks to the “triple whammy of Budget costs, business rates rises and new packaging and recycling levies.” With costs passed on to consumers…
Meanwhile a Federation of Small Businesses survey shows a third of firms plan to cut jobs, up from 17% in October before the budget, thanks in part to the Employment Rights Bill. Tina McKenzie of the FSB (not that one) says:
“The figures speak for themselves – plans to allow employees to sue their employers on their first day on the job will wreak havoc on our already fragile economy, while changes to statutory sick pay will make employers think twice about their hiring plans.”
The ‘growth mission’ going well then…
Speaking to Sky News off the back of Rachel Reeves’ Air Passenger Duty hike, Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary said:
“Labour is dependent on those Red Wall seats, and yet every move she makes poisons economic growth and damages the UK’s recovery… it’s the Chancellor who stumbles from policy misstep to policy misstep… I think her policy decisions are incredibly stupid.”