Business is fed up with Labour’s greater taxes and new employees’ rights, says CBI chief

Higher taxes and new rights for workers have left bosses ‘pretty p****d off’, according to the head of the CBI.

Rupert Soames, who is chairman of the business lobby group, said Labour’s policies have ‘irritated’ employers.

‘People bought into the idea that Labour would be the most pro-business Government ever and clearly they aren’t,’ the City grandee said.

The comments came as High Street chiefs branded the Spring Statement ‘another missed opportunity’ for Rachel Reeves to shake-up business rates and ease the burden on firms. 

Both independent shopkeepers and nationwide store chains face an increase in business rates next month alongside a barrage of other costs imposed by Labour.

This includes the increase in National Insurance (NI) paid by employers – dubbed a ‘jobs tax’ – and inflation-busting rises to the minimum wage. In total, retailers are facing a £7billion hike in costs this year following Labour’s first Budget in October. 

Anguish: City grandee Rupert Soames (pictured), who is chairman of the business lobby group, said Labour’s policies have ‘irritated’ employers

Many saw yesterday’s mini-Budget as the last chance for the Chancellor to offer support and prevent further job losses, store closures and price rises.

But with no respite on the way, British Retail Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said higher costs would result in ‘higher prices, fewer shops and less investment in jobs’.

UK Hospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said: ‘Yesterday’s statement was yet another missed opportunity to avoid an April cliff edge.’

While the Chancellor insisted she has ‘protected working people’, the independent Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) warned the NI tax-raid was ‘likely to be contributing to falling recruitment and rising redundancies’. 

The watchdog also said the workers’ rights bill is likely to have material, and probably net negative, economic impacts on employment, prices, and productivity’.

Andrew Goodacre, of the British Independent Retailers Association, said: ‘This Government must accept that the autumn Budget – labelled as a budget for growth – has in fact turned out to be a budget for decline.’

There was also no suggestion of a reversal of planned reforms to rates – which hit bricks-and-mortar stores hard and are based on the value of a property – despite some large retailers criticising the plans.