UK high street facing ‘worst Christmas on record’ as Reeves sparks economic armageddon | Politics | News
Shopkeepers have warned this Christmas could be the “worst on record” for businesses as fears grow about what Chancellor Rachel Reeves will announce in her autumn budget later this month.
David Frais, 61, who has run TV World Ltd in Chatham High Street, Kent, for 30 years, said Labor’s tax policies were “destroying” local traders and forcing them to lose staff.
“Sometimes I have to pay just to work,” he said, adding that his business “turnover dropped by £60,000” in the first six months of the year.
Mr Frais said his business once employed eleven staff, but that number was now down to just four after being hit by a combination of higher National Insurance and Labour’s National Living Wage increase.
He now spends his evenings making deliveries, and at the end of the day he works to make up for his shortfall in his shop on the main street.
“The high street, what’s left of it, took a big hit in the last budget,” he said. “Reeves putting in National Insurance and the minimum wage led to us being laid off.”
‘You cannot impose taxes on the path to growth’
Many small businesses in Kent felt betrayed by Labour’s approach to taxes, according to Mr Frais. “When Labor came in the rates basically doubled, Reeves is running the country like an amateur,” he told the Express.
The Autumn Budget, due to be delivered on November 26, could include any number of changes to taxation and there are growing fears the chancellor could increase income tax after repeatedly ruling out such a move.
Mr Frais said it would “finish” the High Street and told this newspaper: “Not all of us in the High Street are happy. Chatham doesn’t need to take another hit. Labor has no idea how to run this country.”
The city businessman called on Ms Reeves to use the Budget to ease pressure on her customers, saying changes to tax levels were leaving people with less money to spend over the counter. Mr Frais added: “When will people realize that you can’t tax your way to growth?”
Ms Reeves has insisted her budget will focus on growth.
‘Workers have no idea’
“Next budget please ease the pressure,” Mr Frais said, adding: “You can’t tax people who don’t have money, everyone suffers.”
Small firms across the country have echoed Mr Frais’ concerns, while industry bodies have already warned that Britain’s retail sector faces a harsh winter as consumer spending weakens and energy costs remain high.
Mr. Frais said he feared another punitive budget would accelerate the decline in local shopping, which had already been decimated by rising costs.
“The high street is already being hammered,” he said, “We need Reeves to relax a bit.”
A Treasury spokesman said: “We are creating a fairer business rates system to protect the high street, support investment and level the playing field by introducing permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality and leisure properties from April, which will be sustainably funded by a new, higher rate for less than 1% of the most valuable commercial properties.”
