Chancellor’s autumn statement will ‘renew inflationary pressures that ultimately harm households’

The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned that the Chancellor’s autumn statement is a “sell out” which risks retailers hiking up prices.

Jeremy Hunt’s autumn statement did not go far enough to support the high streets which are struggling as Christmas is around the corner.

The BRC slammed Hunt as his autumn statement on business rates as it is in dire need of reform.

BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson warned, “Retailers and their customers have been sold out by the chancellor’s statement, which does not do enough to support shops, shoppers, and an industry that employs over three million people, and many more across its supply chains.

“As we enter the Christmas period, this autumn statement will serve only to renew inflationary pressures that ultimately harm households.

“The chancellor has poured fuel on the fire spreading across our high streets with a tax hike on shops and other businesses.
“His decision to increase the business rates standard multiplier will cost retailers hundreds of millions every year.

“Rather than introduce the meaningful reforms that were promised in the government’s 2019 manifesto, the Chancellor is now letting the tax spiral out of control, driving up costs just as retailers’ efforts to curb inflation have started to bear fruit.”