Large UK retailers including Tesco, Boots, Marks & Spencer and Next have written to Rachel Reeves to warn that a £7bn increase in annual costs after last month’s budget which will lead to job cuts and higher prices. The letter, with 79 signatories sent by the industry body the British Retail Consortium (BRC), warned the chancellor of the financial impact of the impending increase in the national living wage and employer national insurance contributions (NICs). The BRC has said absorbing the impact of the higher costs will mean higher prices for consumers, smaller pay rises, job cuts and store closures.
“For any retailer, large or small, it will not be possible to absorb such significant cost increases over such a short timescale,” the letter said. “The effect will be to increase inflation, slow pay growth, cause shop closures and reduce jobs, especially at the entry level. This will impact high streets and customers right across the country.
” The letter said that retailers are already starting to make “difficult decisions” and “the sheer scale of new costs and the speed with which they occur create a cumulative burden that will make job losses inevitable, and higher prices a certainty”. Nick Stowe, the chief executive of Monsoon and Accessorize, said retailers had been left with the choice of protecting staff numbers or cancelling their investment plans. The fashion retailers’ boss told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We’re trying to protect that st.