Rachel Reeves has been urged not to raise taxes in her autumn budget, with Britain’s biggest retailers warning it could trigger higher shop prices and have a knock-on effect on both household incomes and the economy.
A report from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) found that as many as 56 per cent of retail finance chiefs – representing more than 9,000 stores – are “pessimistic” about trading conditions over the next 12 months.