Business chiefs warn of high street bloodbath as Labour’s £25billion tax raid comes into force

BUSINESS chiefs are warning of a bloodbath on the high street as Labour’s £25billion tax bomb comes into force today.

raid on employers will lead to pub and restaurant closures and price hikes in supermarkets, they say.

Writing in today’s Sun on Sunday, boss Richard Walker tells Ms Reeves: “We do not have bottomless reserves of cash put aside in a piggy bank for the Government to draw on.”;

From today, businesses have to pay a higher rate of — 15 per cent, up from 13.8 per cent.

And the wage threshold at which they are paid has been lowered from £9,100 to £5,000.

Mr Walker warned there will be dire consequences for small businesses unable to absorb costs.

An increase to last week also heaped pressure on companies.

It comes as British exporters were dealt a hammer blow by Donald Trump’s US trade tariffs — against a backdrop of downgraded growth forecasts and rising .

A new survey by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) found 51 per cent of firms saw their revenue fall across the first quarter of this year, and 40 per cent are braced for their revenue to decrease.

Meanwhile, the British Beer and Pub Association predicts the NICs rise will cost £180million — or £4,000 per pub.

Association boss Emma McClarkin said: “With six pubs closing a week on average and making just pennies on a pint, they simply don’t have the of absorbing yet more fees — including soaring costs.

“Government must phase in these employment costs as they will dent which, ultimately, hurts working people.”;

Shadow Chancellor said the will be the “final nail in the coffin”; for many British pubs.

The Tory added: “Pubs, , and low-wage sectors are facing job cuts, higher costs and reduced growth, having already been clobbered with a 140 per cent rise in business rates.

“The Chancellor’s reckless anti-business tax will cost pubs £4,000 on average, threatening their future everywhere.”;

Bosses are now begging Labour to water down its controversial workers’ rights plan, which will hand sweeping powers to unions and stifle business.

Shevaun Haviland, of the British Chambers of Commerce, said the Employment Rights Bill “risks unintended consequences”;. And Tina McKenzie, of the FSB, said it will “hold back job creation”;.

UKHospitality estimates the will cost the sector £1billion. And that is only part of a total £3.4billion cost to the industry from other increases this month.

If the Government wants to see hospitality lead from the front in delivering economic growth and creating jobs, it should rethink these regressive tax increases. Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality

It says 774,000 hospitality workers will be sucked into employer NICs for the first time — a fifth of the entire sector’s workforce.

And 70 per cent of hospitality leaders think they will be forced to reduce employment levels.

Meanwhile, 60 per cent expect to cancel planned investment and 15 per cent believe they will have to close at least one site.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, said: “These damaging tax rises will be almost immediately felt by consumers, through an increased price of a pint or a meal, and by hard-working staff who will see hours likely reduced.

“If wants to see hospitality lead from the front in delivering economic growth and creating jobs, it should rethink these regressive tax increases.”;

Make UK, which represents manufacturers, did a survey that found almost half of companies are freezing recruitment and four in ten will reduce pay increases.

Around a quarter are considering redundancies and a third are delaying investment plans.

The estimates the higher National Living Wage and changes to NICs will cost the industry more than £5billion a year, rising to £7billion when a new packaging tax comes into force in October.

Consortium chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “These additional costs mean higher prices, fewer jobs and fewer stores.

“A recent survey of retail finance directors showed half were planning to reduce hours and workers as a direct result of NICs.”;

Double blow

The British Chambers of Commerce found most firms surveyed are expecting to put up their prices over the next three months.

A small manufacturing firm in told them tax and costs had caused it to shelve expansion plans for the next five years.

And a medium-sized construction company in said the NICs increase will add £110,000 to its pay bill this year alone.

A logistic firm in Aberdeen said the NICs increase will reduce its profits by 25 per cent.

Ms Haviland, director-general of the BCC, said: “The rise has been an impending concern for months. From this weekend, it will become a toxic reality for millions of businesses.”;

Britain’s car industry faces a double blow, with a 25 per cent US tariff on exports and a £200million-a-year NICs increase, according to Tory analysis.

They say it will leave the £2.1billion worse off every year.

Businesses are now bracing themselves for further tax rises in the amid fears the US trade tariffs have wiped out the Chancellor’s economic options.

A Government spokesman said: “We are pro-business and we know the vital importance of small businesses to our economy.

“We delivered a once-in-a-Parliament Budget that took necessary decisions on tax to stabilise the public finances.”;

CARE BOSS

MIKE Padgham, executive chairman of Saint Cecilia’s Care Group, warned that NI and minimum wage hikes will pile pressure on the NHS.

He said it could lead to an increase in bed blocking — where people stay in hospital for longer due to a lack of care options.

Mike added: “This is a serious blow for a sector already reeling from years of underfunding and . I expect there will be some business failures.

“If social care isn’t out there in the community then people who are medically fit for discharge and want to go back to their own home or care will be unable to.

“This adds to the pressure on the NHS — an unintended consequence of this policy.”;

YOUNG WORKERS

YOUNG workers fear losing their jobs due to the impact of on employers.

As well as being a student, Lucy Laycock, 18, works part time on a zero hours contract at luxury hotel Grantley Hall in .

She said: “It will impact young people a lot, especially those on zero hour contracts.

“It’s really scary to think that we could be let go.”;

Harry Jones, 23, who is a history student from Northumbria, works part-time at . Harry said: “It makes sense that some businesses will start getting rid of staff to foot the bill. It is a worry.”;

HOTEL BOSS

EDDIE Nelder, director of Choice Hotels, believes the are “killing tourist resorts”;.

His chain has three hotels in and two in the Lake District, employing 400 staff.

He said: “Hospitality businesses are being strangled by the Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ and Angela Rayner’s policies”;.

He said Blackpool has a “forward-thinking council”; and bookings are high, yet the industry is being strangled by and NI against a backdrop of wafer thin margins and holidaymakers who can’t afford price increases.

Eddie, right, added: “It’s the same picture across seaside resorts in Britain.

“There are devastating implications for the wider economy. Reeves and Rayner say they have spoken to hundreds of businesses — well they have not spoken to me or anyone I know in Blackpool.

“The Government needs to help UK hospitality and hotels.”;

HOSPITALITY BOSSES

bosses sounded the alarm on the economy — warning: “If too many businesses go down the pan we’re all in trouble.”;

Jason Barr, 51, owner of Blackpool’s Retro Lounge, said he plans to open five days a week instead of seven due to the hikes but feels it is inevitable some .

He said: “The Government needs to remember if we work together, we win together.

“But the opposite is also the case — if too many businesses go down the pan we’re all in trouble.”;

Restaurant owner Juliet May, 74, right, has been forced to cut staff numbers by two-thirds from 18 to six this and will close at 5pm.

The owner of Juliet’s Garden on the Isles of Scilly went on: “Everything Labour has done since they came to power has driven another nail into small businesses.”;