Horror on High Street as half of independent stores mull closure: Retail chiefs sound alarm over yet more painful tax rises
As official figures showed unemployment has soared to a four-year high, the boss of Sports Direct and House of Fraser owner Frasers warned of 'dark clouds' on the horizon due to the looming Budget.
And Ocado founder and chief executive Tim Steiner called for 'lower taxes and less regulation' to boost growth.
The comments came as an industry survey found over 50 per cent of independent retailers have thought about shutting up shop this year.
And 84 per cent said they lack confidence in the Government to help. Frasers finance chief Chris Wootton said there were 'dark clouds' over the next Budget.
The company, which also owns Flannels, Evans Cycles and Gieves & Hawkes, said last year's Budget hit consumer confidence after it imposed higher National Insurance contributions and a hike in the minimum wage.
And Labour has promised to 'level the playing field between the High Street and online giants' by replacing the business rates system.
Ocado boss Steiner said: 'I think that all businesses and, in fact, all people in the UK should want to see lower taxes and less regulation, because that's what will create growth.'
A survey by website Save The High Street found that more than half of independent shopkeepers have thought about shutting their business this year.
Jeff Banks, designer and founder of fashion chain Warehouse, said businesses of all sizes are laying off staff.
He added: 'Taxation is being used as a blunt instrument, driving small businesses out of existence rather than encouraging entrepreneurship and growth.'
There has already been a wave of devastating shop closures and job cuts. Household names including Tesco, Sainsbury's and Morrisons have axed staff, citing the pressure of higher costs.
At least one in ten retail workers could leave the sector before 2028, amounting to 300,000 staff, claims the Retail Jobs Alliance, which represents big names such as Tesco and M&S.
But it is feared the reality could be even worse, as this estimate does not even include the impact of last year's Budget, let alone any further hikes this autumn.
By Hugo Duncan
The hospitality industry has lost a 'devastating' 84,000 jobs since Rachel Reeves imposed higher taxes at last year's Budget.
Restaurants, pubs, cafes and hotels have been hammered by increases in national insurance and the minimum wage.
And fears of further job cuts are mounting as firms struggle to stay afloat.
Kate Nicholls of the UK Hospitality trade group, said: 'These devastating job losses are a direct consequence of policy decisions at last year's Budget.'
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Times
24 minutes ago
- Times
HMRC made a mistake — but won't give us our £15k back
My mother died last year and I have been settling her estate with help from my brother-in-law. It was relatively simple: she had some investments and a mortgage-free house. But it has been time-consuming. Filling in all the paperwork took us an entire day, and we are professionals (he is an accountant and I am a retired judge). Even then we had problems because HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) gave us different information about what tax we should pay. After probate was granted in October, we spoke to two estate agents who estimated that the house was worth £550,000. We told HMRC this was the probate value and we also put it up for sale at that price. Several months later we ended up selling the house for £627,000. We sent a form to HMRC to correct the probate value to the sold price. We then calculated the inheritance tax (IHT) due as roughly £27,800 and immediately paid HMRC to avoid any interest charges. But then HMRC wrote to us to say that we should pay capital gains tax (CGT) instead. We were convinced that this advice was wrong, so we each called HMRC separately, but were both told that we should pay CGT. HMRC then sent a CGT calculation saying we owed £14,965, which we paid. We then asked HMRC to return the IHT payment. Twice we were told that the refund was in progress but that was weeks ago and we still don't have it. After chasing HMRC for a third time we were told that we should have paid IHT after all. It said an IHT calculation would be sent, but we are still waiting for that. We are so confused. We just want to pay the correct tax and get a refund on the other and address supplied I was so sorry to hear how painstaking the probate process had been for your family. It sounded emotionally and practically difficult enough without HMRC adding to your burden by giving you conflicting information. An estate is exempt from IHT on the first £325,000, which increases to £500,000 if the person who has died passes on their main home to children or grandchildren. Married couples and civil partners can leave assets to each other free of tax, and also inherit each other's tax-free allowances. Your father died in March 1990 when the IHT allowance was £118,000. But he had left this amount to you and your sisters on his death, which meant that his tax-free allowance had already been used up and could not be inherited by your mother. The good news is that even though he died before the residence allowance was introduced in 2017, your family could claim this extra £175,000 allowance from his estate because his wife had died after this date (yet another example of how complex the rules are). This meant that up to £675,000 of your mother's estate was free of tax. 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This meant that technically there had been no increase in the value of the property since you inherited it because you had corrected the value that should be used for the IHT calculation. CGT is charged if you make a profit when you sell a property that isn't your main home. When you inherit a property there is no CGT to pay. It is only when you sell the property at a later date, and it has increased in value since you inherited it, that CGT would be owed. When you changed the value of the property, HMRC was under the impression that the property had increased in value by £77,000 between you inheriting and selling it. After the tax-free allowance of £3,000 and other exemptions, such as estate agent and solicitor fees to sell the property, were deducted, CGT was charged at a rate of 24 per cent on the rest of the gain. Tremain said: 'If you have corrected the IHT return to increase the probate value of the house then you have increased the estate's IHT liability. 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26 minutes ago
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The situation in Gaza is dire – but Starmer should be clear about who is to blame
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BBC News
26 minutes ago
- BBC News
Jeremy Corbyn's new party needs a name and it's trickier than you might think
The first thing anybody wants to know when a new political party is launched is what it's going to be Jeremy Corbyn has decided to do things differently. The former Labour leader claims more than 600,000 people have registered as supporters for the new left-wing party he is setting up with fellow independent and ex-Labour MP Zarah is, so far, a party without a reports that it was going to be called Your Party - because that's what the sign-up website is called - were quickly shot down by has said she thinks The Left or the Left Party would be a good title for the new the pair have said they want supporters to come up with a name, as part of their debate on what the new party will stand for. They will not be able to put forward candidates for election until they have registered a name with the Electoral Commission, which has strict rules about not copying other parties' names or sounding too much like apart from that, supporters have a blank canvas."The name should sum up in one simple phrase the pure essence of what the party is all about," says Sheffield University's Prof Matthew time is also ripe for a political party named for the modern world, he Flinders argues the mainstream parties' brands were forged in different times and "most young people don't really understand what Labour means, or Conservative". "The especially don't know what Liberal Democrat means."Whereas parties were once sustained by local branch or social meetings that has "eroded in a digital age, making the relationships thinner and putting more pressure on name and brand recognition to resonate with voters", Prof Flinders the commercial world, brand names are everything."There's a lot of power in a name and if you can clearly convey your point of view and use those words effectively it does a lot of work," says Laura Rogers, an executive creative director at advertising agency AMV BBDO, which counts retailer Currys and charity the RSPCA among its sweet spot, she argues, is something that works well for sharing online and sells well as "merch". Get the wrong name and you risk ridicule. Just ask the Post Office, which in 2001 wasted £2m to rebrand as Consignia, only to reverse course after the baffling name became a laughing stock. A new political party must also be alive to the risks of social media that loves to turn everything into punchlines."Make sure the first three letters don't spell a bad word," warns journalist Ash Sarkar of the left-wing media site Novara Media. "Like the word assembly can very easily be changed to 'ass'."While this may seem flippant ,"People experience and understand politics through the content they share online", Sarkar the general public to name a party would have been a disaster, leading to "Party McPartyface" says Sarkar - referencing the time Boaty McBoatface won a public poll to name a £200m polar research Bailey, co-founder of branding and design agency Baxter and Bailey, thinks Corbyn's decision to ask supporters for names is a clever stunt that has created buzz and a sense of ownership for those signing up. "It also really fits with his brand to be social and democratic with the choice of name," Bailey says."But being democratic in naming and design doesn't make a whole lot of sense," he warns. Political history is littered with cautionary tales for new parties trying to make a name for themselves. The Electoral Commission website shows a new party is registered almost every week in the UK, and most fade without making an impact at a national when a party launches with 11 MPs and a national profile they can collapse without ever really defining themselves - like The Independent Group (TIG), which launched at the height of the Brexit deadlock in 2019 as an avowedly centrist, pro–European Union political party only lasted ten months but changed its name twice, first to Change UK and then to The Independent Group for Change after petitions website threatened to sue over the Allen, the ex-Tory MP who was the first leader of Change UK, recalls her party became "lost in admin", sapping the fledgling movement of a name that speaks to your message and is not already taken by another political group of business is "trickier than you think", says Allen. Pamela Fitzpatrick, who runs the Peace and Justice Project with Corbyn, registered a party last month named "Arise" - a name drawn from one of Corbyn's favourite political strategist and pollster Chris Bruni‑Lowe, who has written a book on the history of politic slogans, would advise against using Arise as the new party's name. "Vague or overly poetic names will underperform, especially if the party is meant to be a corrective force," he his book, Bruni-Lowe says he found "voters don't reward wordplay - they reward clarity and conviction".A name must also be "clear" rather than "clever", he the most effective political brands "offer a vision or mission, not just an organisational label" and use "the electorate's own language and frustrations". Corbyn has insisted the final decision will only come after "all the responses" are in. The plan is to settle on a name at the party's founding conference, in the the discussions around the name are just a distraction, says tends to "hyper-fixate on things that don't really matter", she argues."It's not going to live or die based on a name," insists Sarkar. "It will live or die based on its political strategy.""The fact that 600,000 people have signed up to the new Corbyn project with no name is an answer to the question on how much the name matters," she a message to supporters on Friday, the party with no name said: "Make no mistake: whatever the name, it is always going to be your party." Sign up for our Politics Essential newsletter to keep up with the inner workings of Westminster and beyond.
