Labour STILL has no plan for growth: Bosses blast Reeves as business braces for barrage of higher taxes and rising costs

Business leaders have accused Labour of having ‘no plan’ for growth as they face a barrage of higher taxes and rising costs.

Bosses said the Chancellor’s Spring Statement was a ‘missed opportunity’ to offer them respite through help on business rates and employment costs.

Many now fear that war in the Middle East will send energy prices soaring – heaping even more pain onto business following increases to national insurance contributions and the minimum wage.

Rachel Reeves has been forced into a string of U-turns in recent months – including offer pubs a discount on their business rates bills.

But pleas for further help from other industries – in areas such as business rates and energy bills as well as the minimum wage – fell on deaf ears yesterday with the Chancellor refusing to set out any new policies.

With the Office for Budget Responsibility cutting its forecasts for economic expansion this year from 1.4 per cent to 1.1 per cent, the Institute of Directors said there was ‘still no plan for growth’.

Anna Leach, chief economist of the group, added: ‘The UK’s growth outlook is increasingly fragile and risks are only growing.

‘Bolder and swifter action is needed to remove blockers to growth from the planning system, address damage done to the labour market, and bring down costs for business.’

Andreas Adamides, the boss of Helm, which represents more than 400 founders of fast-growing firms, said: ‘The Chancellor boasts about growth, but British businesses are growing in spite of Government policy, not thanks to it.

‘Soaring costs, higher taxes and rising wage pressures are squeezing firms and killing jobs. Unemployment is now at its highest level since the pandemic. That’s not success, it’s the price of bad policy.’

Tina McKenzie, the policy chair at the Federation of Small Businesses, said Reeves ‘missed the chance’ to address the slew of cost increases coming down the track for firms next month.

And she also said the government must ‘stand ready’ to offer support to small businesses if another energy price crisis arises due to conflict in the Middle East.

‘Inaction from the Chancellor is not enough for the UK’s small businesses and self-employed who are being squeezed by cost pressures and facing a new cost crunch about to hit in April,’ she said.

‘We’re a month away from employment costs going up, business rates going up and energy bills going up. The Chancellor missed the chance today to address the costs stack about to hit small firms.’

High Street bosses warned that employers are facing a toxic combination of higher costs as consumers’ own budgets are squeezed.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive at the British Retail Consortium, warned: ‘While household finances may improve later in the Parliament, the immediate risk is to jobs, especially in retail.’

Ros Morgan, chief executive of Heart of London Business Alliance, which represents over 500 businesses, said the Chancellor needs to fix ‘the broken business rates system’.

She said: ‘We are disappointed that the Chancellor did not use her Spring Statement to address the biggest current issue for many businesses, which is the broken business rates system.

‘The bailout already announced for pubs is a temporary sticking plaster solution for one sector.

‘Many other businesses, from hotels to restaurants to pharmacies, are facing totally unsustainable increases in bills under the Government’s current plans.

‘Labour needs to deliver on what it promised before the election — real rates reform to level the playing field between online businesses which pay little or nothing and high street ones that bear the brunt.

‘There is increasing support for a small levy on online sales, which would enable a cut in over a third in rates for all high street businesses.’

Steve Perez, chief executive and founder of drinks producer Global Brands, said: ‘It is no wonder growth has stalled when employers are struggling to plan, hire, and invest. 

‘Rachel Reeves’s advisor recently claimed that the country lacks economic resilience. Quite simply, if the UK lacks economic resilience, it is because businesses are being asked to operate amid constant policy change.’