Exclusive: Labour’s relationship with business ‘at a critical point’, retail boss warns November 19, 2024 If a week is a long time in politics, then four months in retail is a lifetime. When Helen Dickinson, the chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), last sat down with City AM in late July, she could hardly have been more effusive in her praise for the incoming Chancellor and her business [...]
Budget will hurt UK wage growth, Goldman Sachs warns November 18, 2024 UK consumer spending is set to slump next year and dent UK growth, analysts at Goldman Sachs have warned, as the impact of the Budget ripples through the economy. The rise to employers’ national insurance (NI) contributions will lead to slower wage growth for staff and higher costs for consumers, the investment bank wrote in [...]
Budget tax hike could destroy 100,000 jobs, Deutsche Bank estimates November 15, 2024 The hike to employers' national insurance in last month's Budget could end up costing the economy over 100,000 jobs, according to research from Deutsche Bank.
How Arla Foods boss went from selling cigarettes to Lurpak and Cravendale November 15, 2024 A globe-trotting career that began selling cigarettes at British American Tobacco and has led to heading up the UK arm of dairy giant Arla Foods is maybe not what Bas Padberg could have predicted when he started out in the early 1990s. The managing director of the group behind Lurpak, Cravendale, Skyr and B.O.B milk [...]
London pubs giant Young’s issues Budget warning after £11m costs hike November 14, 2024 Pub giant Young’s, which has locations across London and the South East, has insisted it has no plans to increase the price of drinks despite the Budget adding around £11m in annual costs. The listed group said it was instead focusing on increasing efficiency, better use of technology and internal investment in order to deal [...]
Founders warn of hiring freeze ahead of national insurance hike November 14, 2024 A majority of founders are warning they will have to implement a hiring freeze ahead of the employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs) increase set to come into effect this spring. The warning signs follow Rachel Reeves’ announcement in the Budget last month of a 1.2 per cent increase to employers’ NICs, taking the total to [...]
Fuller’s pub boss warns Budget tax changes will drive hospitality to the brink November 13, 2024 The boss of pub chain Fuller, Smith and Turner has made a stark warning about the effect of recent tax rises on hospitality, warning it will increase inflation and drive businesses “to the wall”. Chair of the London-listed firm known as Fuller’s, Michael Turner, said that the changes to employer’s national insurance contributions (NICs) announced [...]
Employer National Insurance hike a ‘significant burden’ and will impact working people, warns Thwaites November 12, 2024 The hike in employer National Insurance contribution (NICs), which was revealed by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her Budget, will place a “significant burden” on historic brewer, pub and hotel owner, Daniel Thwaites, the company has said. The Lancashire-headquartered group added that the increase, together with the rise in the National Living Wage, “make it less [...]
Business groups warn of jobs market slowdown following Budget November 12, 2024 Alexandra Hall-Chen, principal policy adviser for employment at the Institute for Directors (IoD) said the figures point to a "concerning trend" in the labour market.
Ministers either don’t understand private sector, or don’t care November 11, 2024 No politician could actually get away with telling businesses to “suck it up” when they warn about the impact of tax rises, though Labour’s Darren Jones came dangerously close yesterday, airily telling the BBC that bigger businesses can handle higher costs. While it’s true that they’ll find a way to pay these new taxes and [...]