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More than 60 retail leaders have written to the chancellor ahead of the Autumn Budget, warning that rising costs are driving up prices and threatening jobs.
Chief executives from companies including Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi, Asda, Boots and Ikea signed the letter, which calls for a reduction in business rates for shops, hospitality and leisure.
The group said government policies introduced this year had added £7bn in costs for retailers, citing changes to employer national insurance, higher wage bills and a new packaging tax. They warned that these increases were feeding through supply chains and pushing up food prices.
The Bank of England’s latest Monetary Policy Report noted that “food price inflation has also picked up by more than anticipated… and is expected to rise further”, driven by global commodity costs, labour pressures and new environmental rules.
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said the sector expected food inflation to hit 6% later this year, just as households face higher winter energy bills. She added that 100,000 retail jobs had been lost over the past year.
In their letter, the signatories said: “We are committed to investing in our businesses and providing good quality jobs for people at all stages of their career… absorbing cost pressures wherever we can.
“It is for these reasons we support your plan to reduce business rates on retail, hospitality and leisure. To deliver the improvements to investment the government seeks, support local employment, and help relieve the pressure on prices, it is essential these changes result in a significant reduction in the industry’s tax burden.”
The group argued that no store should face higher bills under the changes and called for shops to be excluded from the higher business rate multiplier.
The signatories included Ken Murphy, group chief executive of Tesco, Simon Roberts, chief executive of Sainsbury’s, Giles Hurley, chief executive of Aldi UK, and Rami Baitieh, chief executive of Morrisons.
They added: “We see it as a key moment for the government to publicly buy into retail and the vital role the industry can play in helping deliver a stronger and more resilient economy for all.”
