Last year, Next was one of the signatories on a letter from UK retailers to Chancellor Rachel Reeves calling for a rethink to the Budget measures.
The letter said High Street job losses were “inevitable” and also warned that prices would rise and shops would close.
But in an interview with BBC, the chancellor defended what she called “difficult decisions”, arguing they were “the right decisions in the national interest”.
Next made over a billion pounds in profit last year, and is expected to repeat that this year. Meanwhile other big retailers with large workforces – like Tesco and Sainsbury’s – have also made bumper profits. Lord Wolfson accepts that they are the “broad shoulders” that the chancellor insisted must bear the brunt of tax rises needed to rebuild public services.
“Government did need to raise taxes. I’ve got nothing against lowering the threshold for NI in principle but the speed at which it is going to happen, the lack of consultation, that is the problem.”
Lord Wolfson also has concerns about a new workers’ rights bill.
This promises to give greater protection from unfair dismissal and “exploitative” zero-hours contracts, with employees able to request a guaranteed hours contract based on hours worked over a period. But that could pose a problem for retailers.
“We offer staff extra hours in the run-up to Christmas. If the legislation is going to mean that those hours have to be contractually binding forever then we just won’t be able to do it at all, it would be impossible.”
He has some advice for the chancellor in her attempts to boost growth and business confidence: start in your own backyard.
“Over the last five years the government has employed 100,000 more civil servants.
“We can’t go on spending over 40% of GDP on the public sector. It has to become more efficient and if the government can commit to doing that – and deliver it – then I think that will do more for business confidence than anything else.”
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