Tony McGrath
31 October 2011
The British Retail Consortium composed a letter to Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, as retailers across the U.K. want to see concrete plans in the chancellor's Autumn Statement, outlining how the government plans to create a positive agenda for the industry.
The letter identified ways the chancellor could cut costs and increase growth in retail, including holding back business rates and fuel costs and improving access to markets for consumers.
The news source reported the consortium feels a 5.6 percent increase in business rates next April on top of a 4.6 percent increase expected this year will make the cost of doing business too expensive for many retailers. In addition, fuel duties will increase again next August, and the group is encouraging the chancellor to freeze that tax.
The U.K. is already leading Europe in online retailing, so fully opening EU markets to U.K. online retailers could incite growth, especially through a single digital market. The consortium reported that the proportion of U.K. online retailing is almost twice as much as the EU average, thus Osborne should work with the European Commission to create an open market.
The retail industry is demanding the government act to help retailers, as retail employment dropped 0.8 percent in the third quarter of 2011. The BRC recently reported this is the sharpest quarterly fall in retail jobs since October 2009, and September 2011 reported 23,000 fewer jobs than the same month in 2010.
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