M&S boss Stuart Machin urges chancellor to back business, not burden it, in Budget

Machin, who recently hosted chancellor Rachel Reeves on a Marks & Spencer store visit, said the government needs “a new plan to break out of our economic doom loop of ever higher taxes and lower growth”.

In a blog on the M&S website, he maintained that “anyone suggesting the chancellor rip up her fiscal rules is mad – the minute they go, all bets are off”.

He said: “Ministers must prioritise and spend within their means, instead of coming back to businesses or the British public for more. There are clear options for reductions in spending, even if they present political challenges.”

Machin was concerned that over the last year retailers have been “hit by an alphabet soup of taxes and regulations” such as new packaging regulations and a “catastrophic” rise in national insurance contributions, facing £7bn in additional costs altogether.

As the November Budget nears, he said he hoped there would be no more taxes that hit shoppers and action on business rates.

He also encouraged “accelerating the EU reset and delivering the agrifood deal that will rip up red tape and reduce cost pressures on the weekly shop”, alongside support for farmers, such as a rethink on inheritance tax, and measures to help the young into work, such as national insurance holidays.

Machin concluded: “The chancellor has two paths ahead of her. More of the same: plugging fiscal holes with tax rises, stoking inflation and suppressing demand. Or change course: spend less, borrow less, tax less, regulate less, reduce inflation and enable growth.”