Members of the British Retail Consortium, including representatives of all the major supermarkets, have written to the chancellor (Getty\/iStock) <\/p>\n
Britain’s major supermarkets are pressing the chancellor to exempt them from a new business rates surtax, warning consumers will ultimately face higher prices.<\/p>\n
A letter from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) to Rachel Reeves argues that limiting the tax burden on grocers is vital for tackling food inflation. It has been signed by UK executives and directors from Tesco, Sainsbury\u2019s, Aldi, Asda, Iceland, Lidl, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, and Waitrose.<\/p>\n
The BRC said it is concerned that large shops could see their business rates rise if they are included in the Government\u2019s new surtax for properties with a rateable value over \u00a3500,000.<\/p>\n
This is expected to cover discounts for smaller high-street firms, which will be subject to reduced business rates under the Government\u2019s plans.<\/p>\n
The plans are set to be confirmed in next month\u2019s autumn Budget statement and would come into effect from next April.<\/p>\n
In the letter, the supermarket bosses say that their \u201cability to absorb additional costs is diminishing\u201d.<\/p>\n
It reads: \u201cIf the industry faces higher taxes in the coming Budget \u2013 such as being included in the new surtax on business rates \u2013 our ability to deliver value for our customers will become even more challenging and it will be households who inevitably feel the impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the costs currently falling on the industry, including from the last Budget, high food inflation is likely to persist into 2026.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not something that we would want to see prolonged by any measure in the Budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cLarge retail premises are a tiny proportion of all stores, yet account for a third of retail\u2019s total business rates bill, meaning another significant rise could push food inflation even higher.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter concludes by asking Ms Reeves to \u201caddress retail\u2019s disproportionate tax burden\u201d, which it said would \u201csend a strong signal of support for the industry and of the government\u2019s commitment to tackling food inflation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Helen Dickinson, the BRC\u2019s chief executive, said: \u201cSupermarkets are doing everything possible to keep food prices affordable, but it\u2019s an uphill battle, with over \u00a37bn in additional costs in 2025 alone.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom higher national insurance contributions to new packaging taxes, the financial strain on the industry is immense.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Treasury has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Members of the British Retail Consortium, including representatives of all the major supermarkets, have written to the chancellor…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":527981,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,52161,14493,393,21509,4884,1144,619,712,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-527980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-british-retail-consortium","12":"tag-business-rates","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-food-inflation","15":"tag-great-britain","16":"tag-northern-ireland","17":"tag-rachel-reeves","18":"tag-scotland","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115437463565662900","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527980","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=527980"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/527980\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/527981"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=527980"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=527980"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=527980"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}