Warning retail job cuts ‘inevitable’ after Budget

High Street job losses are "inevitable", prices will rise, and shops will close because of tax rises in the Budget and other rising costs, a group of the biggest retailers in the UK is warning.

Tesco, Amazon, Greggs, Next, and dozens of other chains are urging the Treasury to reconsider some of the measures.

In a letter to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, they said the "cumulative burden" of the Budget changes and other policies already in the pipeline will add billions in costs to a sector with a 3% to 5% profit margin.

A Treasury spokesperson said the government had had to "make difficult choices to fix the foundations of the country".

Measures in the Budget, in particular a rise in the tax that firms pay on their staff's wages, have been met with a tide of criticism from business, who argue it will hold back growth.

But concerns have been loudest among retailers and hospitality businesses, where many young people find their first jobs. Firms in those sectors are also facing higher costs from next year's rise in the minimum wage.

Though many individual retailers have already spoken out, this letter marks the first time so many have done so together.

The 80 signatories of the letter range from big British retailers - such as Aldi, Asda, Boots, Currys, John Lewis, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Primark and Sainsbury's - to charity shop group the British Heart Foundation and trade group Associated Independent Stores.

The government has defended its tax rises as necessary to avoid cuts to public services, and the rise in the minimum wage, with a bigger boost for younger workers and apprentices, has been welcomed by trades unions.

The letter from the businesses belonging to the British Retail Consortium (BRC) said: "The sheer scale of new costs and the speed with which they occur create a cumulative burden that will make job losses inevitable, and higher prices a certainty."

It calculated the changes would add over £7bn a year in costs, adding it would "not be possible to absorb such significant cost increases over such a short timescale".

"The effect will be to increase inflation, slow pay growth, cause shop closures, and reduce jobs, especially at the entry level."

However, Nadine Houghton, GMB Union national officer, said larger businesses "pleading poverty" was "utterly pathetic".

“Most of these companies’ fortunes are already subsidised by the tax payer. They pay very low wages which then have to be topped up by in work benefits," she added.