The Chancellor has also come under fire for failing to reform the business rates regime clobbering the High Street.
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The issue has been highlighted by the Mail’s Save Our High Streets campaign, with leading retailers calling for urgent reform of business rates.
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The CRR predicts as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost next year due to higher business rates and employment costs. The new worrying data comes after the Mail revealed that more than 400 retail jobs had been lost every day this year by mid-November.
Some 38 major retailers fell into administration this year, including Lloyds Pharmacy, Homebase and The Body Shop.
And he warned 2025 could be even worse. ‘By increasing the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.’