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<\/p>\nRachel Reeves faces ridicule after admitting the economy is \u2018stuck\u2019 as businesses urged her to prevent job losses and shop closures.<\/p>\n
Storm clouds are gathering over the economy as it was today revealed that the UK now has the highest borrowing costs of any rich OECD country.<\/p>\n
The Chancellor was criticised after having declared: \u2018Our economy isn\u2019t broken, but it does feel stuck. That\u2019s why growth is our number one mission.\u2019<\/p>\n
She was urged to use her Budget to provide respite for firms and to bring down sky high borrowing costs.<\/p>\n
Businesses have railed against Labour after it surprised them with a \u00a325billion raid on employers\u2019 National Insurance contributions, alongside increases to business rates, packaging levies and wages.<\/p>\n
Just yesterday, B&Q became the latest big name to announce mass job cuts as it proposed reducing its headcount by 672 roles.<\/p>\n
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Retailers have axed jobs in the wake of last year\u2019s Budget<\/p>\n
Retailers to have axed jobs in the wake of last year\u2019s Budget include Tesco and Morrisons.<\/p>\n
Julian Jessop, economics fellow at the Institute of Economic Affairs, a free market think-tank, said: \u2018The UK economy is indeed stuck in a \u201clow growth, high tax\u201d trap, but the Government’s own failures to control public spending and restore investor confidence have played a key part.\u2019<\/p>\n
Tory spokesman for business, Andrew Griffith, added: \u2018If the economy is stuck, there is no doubting who\u2019s been spreading the glue.\u2019<\/p>\n
Reeves\u2019 remarks came as she announced a shake-up of business rates, which was welcomed by small firms.<\/p>\n
But a report from the British Retail Consortium warned that 400 big shops could close, under Reeves\u2019 wider reforms for the tax.<\/p>\n
The group warned that up to 100,000 jobs could be lost, should larger shops be forced to close due to higher taxes.<\/p>\n
And it estimated local councils\u2019 business rates receipts from retail would fall by well over \u00a3100million a year.<\/p>\n
Reeves has been facing mounting pressure from High Street bosses over her reforms, which are designed to level the playing field between bricks-and-mortar businesses and online rivals.<\/p>\n
But bosses argue the changes will also hit \u2018anchor\u2019 stores that generate footfall for town centres.<\/p>\n
Retailers fear around 4,000 shops could be forced to pay higher rates.<\/p>\n
Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said hundreds more shops could \u2018disappear\u2019, resulting in \u2018emptier high streets, and less revenue for the Exchequer\u2019.<\/p>\n
She added: \u2018The Chancellor can back families, jobs and high streets this Autumn, by excluding large shops from the new higher business rates tax band.<\/p>\n
‘This would not cost the Exchequer a penny, yet would help secure the future of 400 retail stores, and the communities they support, right across the country.<\/p>\n
‘But failure to act risks shuttering hundreds more stores, costing jobs, communities and the economy far more in the long run.\u2019<\/p>\n
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