Retail giants including Asda, Marks & Spencer, Primark and Tesco will host a New Year’s campaign to warn Rachel Reeves that plans to increase business rates in department stores will put jobs and workers at risk. stores.
Sky News has learned that some of Britain’s biggest chains – which also include J Sainsbury, Morrisons and Kingfisher-owned B&Q – have agreed to relaunch a group called the Retail Jobs Alliance (RJA).
Sources said the RJA, which was set up to push for reform of Britain’s archaic business rates regime, is expected to engage with the Treasury in the coming weeks to declare that a wave of tax increases and regulatory changes will threaten investments by large retailers in economically disadvantaged countries. regions of the country.
They intend to produce analysis showing that many stores with rateable values above a new threshold of £500,000 are located in areas that rely on retailers for employment opportunities.
The revamped coalition is expected to launch in January and will likely include other big names, according to insiders.
It is understood to be coordinating its plans with the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the sector’s main trade body.
In total, RJA members employ more than a million people across Britain and represent a significant proportion of stores whose rateable value exceeds the proposed threshold.
A source close to the group’s plans said it intended to highlight that the higher business rates multiplier contradicted Labour’s manifesto pledge to “(level) the playing field between high street and high street retailers.” line “.
The latest intervention from retail bosses will come after weeks of vocal complaints on the impact of Ms. Reeves’ first budget on the sector.
Last month, a letter signed by dozens of industry leaders notably from Boots and Next, who said the Budget would impose £7 billion in extra costs on them.
These include a £2.3 billion impact from changes to national insurance£2.73 billion from an increase in the National Living Wage and a £2 billion packaging tax bill.
Since then, retailers have lined up to warn that consumers will face rising prices when the tax changes take effect in April.
Stuart Machin, chief executive of M&S, and Andrew Higginson, chairman of JD Sports Fashion and the BRC, are among those who have publicly criticized the new measures.
Tesco alone will have to pay £1 billion in additional employer national insurance contributions during this parliamentary term.
This week, ShoeZone, a shoe chain, announced that it close 20 stores due to weak trade and the increase in costs announced in the budget.
The hospitality industry also highlighted the possibility of rising prices and job losses following the Chancellor’s statement on October 30.
In response to growing corporate backlashMs Reeves told the CBI’s annual conference last month that she would “not come back with more borrowing or more taxes”.
The RJA was initially established in 2022 by WPI Strategy, a public affairs firm based in London.
None of the RJA members contacted by Sky News this weekend made a comment.