Iceland Foods boss slams rivals over complaining about Reeves’ enterprise tax raid

The boss of frozen food chain Iceland has criticised rivals for complaining about Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ business tax raid.

A wave of firms have lined up to warn the Budget announced increase in employers’ national insurance will lead to price rises and job cuts.

Richard Walker, Iceland’s managing director, told the Mirror: “Businesses that sit on their hands and complain will suffer. My focus is not on feeling sorry for ourselves, it is about trying to lead from the front. Business will have to mitigate and innovate, and that’s what we’re focused on.”

Mr Walker, a former Tory donor who backed Labour at the general election, went on: “We’ve been going 54 years and we’ve had sky-high inflation and interest rates in the 70s, we’ve had even recently the war in Ukraine and supply shocks, Covid.

And then of last year, we had a £100million increase in our energy bill, which for us was a challenge and we’ve got through it and got through it stronger.” He added: “There’s been a lot of complaining from business. But, actually what matters much more is how the government invests for the future and looks at long-term solutions, like skills development, industrial strategy, the business rates overhaul.”

His comments came as Iceland expanded a scheme that provides interest-free loans of up to £100, giving families the chance to spread the costs of stocking up for Christmas. Run partnership with the not-for-profit lender Fair For You, “microloans” from £25 are loaded onto a card to be used at Iceland Foods or its sister brand The Food Warehouse, with repayments set at £10 per week. An independent report from The Centre for Responsible Finance found the scheme had already helped thousands of families, with customers saving an estimated £2million by avoiding high-interest credit, and a 77% reduction in food bank usage.