Iceland boss halts store openings amid cost-of-living crisis

Iceland has reportedly contacted No 10 directly with a plea to prepare an “immediate and radical” cost-of-living package, according to The Guardian, as the retailer has been forced to stall the openings of new stores in light of the rise in energy costs.

The news comes as the proportion of people spending more than a fifth of their net income on energy is expected to increase from 32% to 45.9% by April 2023.

Tory leadership frontrunner, Liz Truss, reportedly said that she does not believe in “giving out handouts”, preferring instead to cut taxes to ease the burden on families.

The Guardian also reported that Richard Walker, the managing director of the frozen food retailer, has access to No 10 as a member of its business council and has therefore warned that Liz Truss’s plan to cut business rates for SMEs would not meet the size of the challenge.  

According to The Guardian, Walker said: “This is absolutely urgent. Let’s get a plan up and ready for whoever the next prime minister is, because it really is urgent. Where markets dislocat completely, like they have with the energy markets, it’s time for the government to step in, otherwise what are they for?

“My fear is that they’ll do a half-baked response. I read that Liz Truss is thinking of further rate relief for small businesses. That’s lovely, but it won’t even touch the sides. What they need to understand is this affects big business as well as small, because it’s exactly the same trouble we’re in, there’s just more jobs at stake.”

In addition, Walker said his father, Malcolm Walker, who founded Iceland in 1970, had reportedly told him he “had never known it like this”, as customers and businesses alike are faced with living cost pressures.