Rachel Reeves has been accused of ruining Christmas after figures showed “nervous” shoppers were spending less after her Budget.
Grim retail data showed that Britons had been driven from the high street after Ms Reeves’s tax-raising statement -.just as businesses hoped to draw them in for the festive season.
Black Friday sales at November’s end were unexpectedly poor, and stores have already warned how December has been catastrophic.
And the new year is “expected to start on a gloomy note for the retail sector” too, according to the CBI (Confederation of British Industry).
This time of year should be the “Golden Quarter” for struggling shops before Christmas.
And today marks “Super Saturday,” typically the year’s busiest shopping day as customers rush for last-minute presents.
The CBI said this month’s performance as “poor” based on its retailer survey – with bricks-and-mortar and online sales both dropping compared to last year.
Tory Shadow Business Secretary Andrew Griffith had harsh words for the Chancellor after the report.
“Doom and gloom in our high streets is mirrored in pubs, restaurants and even car showrooms as shoppers hunker down ahead of tax rises to come,” he said.
‘She’s like a hangover without the Christmas party beforehand,’ top Tory Andrew Griffith raged
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Mr Griffith continued: “This is a crucial time of year for businesses, but Reeves has risked ruining everyone’s Christmas with higher costs and no vision or optimism for the year ahead.
“She’s like a hangover without the Christmas party beforehand.”
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said: “Rachel Reeves might as well have handed British businesses a lump of coal this Christmas.
“Her job-destroying, tax-raising Budget nightmare is throttling economic growth, smashing jobs and trashing consumer confidence.”
The CBI expects January sales to fall further, marking the weakest month in four years since March 2021 during the pandemic.
‘Rachel Reeves might as well have handed British businesses a lump of coal this Christmas,’ Richard Tice said
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Online purchases declined too – and are forecast to contract sharply next month.
The CBI’s principal economist, Martin Sartorius, said: “Against a backdrop of weak trading conditions, there is a clear need for Government action to lower the cost of doing business.
“Progressing reforms to the business rates system, lowering crippling energy costs, and finding balanced solutions to the Employment Rights Bill through secondary legislation would help restore confidence and unlock vital investment.”
And consumer expert Kate Hardcastle said: “It paints a stark picture. Households are behaving like risk managers, not shoppers. When confidence erodes, people delay – they think twice instead of buying once.”
She added: “December used to be the month where people ‘locked in’ joy. Now it’s the month where people ask: ‘Am I sure?'”
PICTURED: Rachel Reeves with Canadian counterpart Francois-Philippe Champagne. The Chancellor has been accused of ruining Christmas
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The so-called “nightmare before Christmas” Budget arrived just two days before Black Friday, with the Office for National Statistics revealing sales fell unexpectedly by 0.1 per cent that month.
Richard Lim of Retail Economics noted the Budget’s timing could not have been worse, and said pre-Budget leaks testing reactions to potential income tax rises proved “hugely unhelpful for household confidence.”
Retailers are facing soaring business rates, higher employer National Insurance contributions, and sharp minimum wage increases – while new workers’ rights legislation approved by Parliament this week could soon add further pressure.
But a Treasury spokesman defended the Government’s approach, stating: “We are delivering stability, cutting borrowing and debt and getting inflation down. That’s helped deliver six interest rate cuts since the election.”