There are fears supermarket prises could rise as Tesco faces having to pay an extra £1 billion tax bill thanks to Rachel Reeves ‘ National Insurance raid on businesses

It comes following Ms Reeves’ decision to raise employers’ National Insurance to 15 per cent from next spring

Sainsbury’s boss Simon Roberts has already said the tax bomb Budgetwill cause higher food prices, while Marks and Spencer has warned it was facing ‘pretty significant costs to mitigate against’.

More than 200 hospitality bosses have already written to the Chancellor to highlight their ‘grave fears’ about the hike and national minimum wage rise, which they have estimated will cost the industry an extra £14 billion.

‘The changes to the NICs threshold are not just unsustainable for our business, they are regressive in their impact on lower earners and will impact flexible working practices which many older workers and parents rely upon,’ they wrote.

‘Unquestionably they will lead to business closures and job losses within a year.’

Sainsbury’s has estimated its tax bill will rise by £140million, M&S says it will soar £60million, while Co-op warned its would rise by ‘tens of millions of pounds per year’.

Meanwhile, Ms Reeves also lowered the level at which companies have to start paying it – with Mr Machine branding the decreased threshold a ‘double whammy’ for businesses

Sainsbury’s CEO Mr Roberts said there is ‘already too much pressure in the pipe’ for the retailer to swallow an unexpected cost rise without it affecting prices.

M&S chief executive Stuart Machin (pictured) said the company will do ‘everything we can’ to prevent price increases for shoppers

M&S is anticipating its tax bill to increase by £60million next year to around £520million following the Chancellor’s decision to increase employers’ National Insurance (Stock photo)

He added that the ‘unexpected barrage of costs’ will ‘feed into a higher level of inflation’ for consumers.

Speaking of his concerns to the Telegraph, M&S chief executive Stuart Machin said: ‘We planned [for an increase] because obviously it was well noted before the Budget that there was going to be some National Insurance increase for business.’

To make matters worse, retailers have been dealing with high levels of shoplifting as store theft offences at M&S surged to the highest level ever last year.

M&S chairman Archie Norman previously told LBC News that stores across the country get ‘very little help’ from police, even though retail theft rates have soared.

According to the Office for National Statistics, a total of 430,104 offences were recorded by police in the year to December 2023, up by more than a third (37%) from 315,040 in the previous 12 months.

Mr Norman’s comments echoed those of other retail bosses who accused ministers of allowing shoplifting to become effectively decriminalised, with many police forces failing to attend the majority of reports or gather any evidence when they do.

Figures this year revealed under 40 per cent of shoplifting reports were attended by the Metropolitan Police between April 2022 and April 2023.

Speaking to LBC’s Nick Ferrari on the issue, Mr Norman said: ‘I think it [shoplifting] is a problem. I think I have said before, but it’s a worldwide problem coming out of the pandemic. It’s happened everywhere.

A total of 430,104 shoplifting offences were recorded by the police in the year to December 2023. The figure is the highest since current records began in the year to March 2003

‘We get very little help from the police and we have to accept that police are not interested in this sort of crime anymore.’

Despite the worrying statistics, Mr Norman said theft at M&S is actually going down ‘mostly’ because of the retailer’s own efforts and not those of police.

The High Street stalwart has pumped cash into crime prevention measures such as store detectives and camera systems.

Small business this month declared the Autumn Budget is ‘the final nail in the coffin’ as they continue to digest its impacts.

Bosses said they will be forced to axe services, lay off staff or even shut down as a result of Labour’s tax bombshell.

They are especially angry at a £25billion hike in employers’ national insurance, while others fear the effects of a 6.7 per cent rise in the minimum wage to £12.21 an hour.