John Lewis boss Nish Kankiwala slammed the government as he compared the recent budget to a “two-handed grab” which will add “tens of millions” of additional costs to business, The Financial Times reported.
This comes after the recent budget, the Labour Government’s first since being elected increased employers’ national insurance contributions and delayed business rates reform.
Kankiwala said the government should look at “radical change in business rates” because “that looks like it is going up for us, as is our people costs”.
“That seems to be, you know, sort of [a] two-handed grab, and that’s unhelpful.”
”If they could delay the national insurance [changes], but also if they could fundamentally bring forward a radical reshaping of business rates, I think it will make a massive difference,” he added.
He expressed shock at the measures announced which included lowered earnings threshold for NI contributions, but acknowledged that the government faced difficult decisions.
He added the business would look to mitigate the impact on prices from consumers after a year of record-high inflation but that the retailer faces “tens of millions” of additional cost from next year.
“The last thing we need is a resurgence of inflation, because we just got that under control, and inflation is not good for anybody…We will try and control [pricing] as much as possible,” he said.
1 Reader's comment