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\t\tRoberts warned that it has become much more difficult to hire people in the UK\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tWednesday 24 September 2025 1:40 pm\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\t\tRoberts warned that it has become much more difficult to hire people in the UK\t<\/p>\n
The boss of AO World has warned that inflation, new red tape around hiring and higher taxes are quickly pushing the UK into a recession<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve lived through a few recessions in the last 25 years \u2013 I think we\u2019re heading into another one,\u201d founder and CEO of AO World, John Roberts, told the BBC.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have inflation coming through and we are now feeling that in the costs across businesses\u2026 Business leaders that I speak to are looking at how they can take people out.<\/p>\n \u201cCosts walk into businesses on legs \u2013 those legs have got much more expensive. It is much more difficult to recruit people, it\u2019s much less flexible than it has ever been to recruit people,\u201d Roberts said.<\/p>\n Inflation hit 3.8 per cent in August<\/a>, while the UK\u2019s largest retail lobby has warned<\/a> that tax hikes in the upcoming Autumn budget would push inflation over five per cent \u201cwell into 2025\u201d. <\/p>\n Roberts also warned that the government is driving wealth out of the country through higher taxes: \u201cWhat I really object to is the narrative that you can just keep taxing wealthy people and wasting the money. We are driving incredible amounts of wealth out of this nation.<\/p>\n \u201cI know many people that have left the UK. You just can\u2019t keep gearing the tax up. What you\u2019ve got to do is run the country efficiently, you\u2019ve got to take the tough decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n Roughly a quarter of wealthy foreigners with foreign-held trusts<\/a> left in response to last year\u2019s Autumn budget. <\/p>\n \u2018We should be turbo-charged by government\u2019<\/p>\n Roberts was particularly critical of the workers\u2019 rights bill, which will controversially give employees \u2018day one\u2019 rights \u2013 allowing workers the same employment protection as longer-serving colleagues from the moment they start a job.<\/p>\n \u201cWe should be talking about job creation, not enforcing things that make business leaders think twice about recruiting people and about giving somebody a chance,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tDon\u2019t rule out another rate cut this year<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIf the risks associated with giving those people a chance start going up exponentially then you think twice about it. We can\u2019t carry costs that some of our competitors are not carrying. We should be turbo-charged by our UK government, not disadvantaged.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that welfare spending has \u201cballooned out of control\u201d, with Starmer\u2019s unsuccessful bid to cut the number of Brits eligible forcing an embarrassing U-turn earlier this summer.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it actually comes down to the MPs with a massive majority doing the right thing for the nation, they back out of it,\u201d Roberts added. \u201cWhy do they back out of it? Because \u2018I might not get elected again\u2019.\u201d <\/p>\n Recessions warnings grow<\/p>\n The warning from Roberts follows a spate of high-profile alarm bells: \u00a0Next boss Lord Wolfson last week said Britain faced years of \u201canaemic growth\u201d and warned more tax increases would have a \u201cdemonstrable negative impact\u201d.<\/p>\n City Veteran Lord Stuart Rose similarly said that the UK is \u201con the edge of a crisis\u201d and that he was \u201cworried\u201d about the country. <\/p>\n \u201cWe have got no growth in the economy. If you have no growth in the economy, you\u2019re not creating any wealth. If you haven\u2019t got any wealth, you can\u2019t put into the nation the services that voters want and voted for. So, we\u2019ve got to change tack.<\/p>\n \u201cThere isn\u2019t a direction of travel. There is no travel. We\u2019re not travelling anywhere. We\u2019re actually standing still in a lay-by while we decide what to do. That\u2019s the real problem,\u201d he told Times radio. <\/p>\n Economic data, too, promises a concerning<\/a> Autumn: Business\u00a0activity expectations<\/a>\u00a0for the year ahead slumped to a three-month low in September. Hiring, too, has slumped since last October. <\/p>\n Chris Williamson, chief business economist at S&P said the latest figures \u201cbrought a litany of worrying news including weakening growth, slumping overseas trade, worsening business confidence and further steep job losses\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n