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Healey warned tax hikes will cost jobs and push up prices as retail sales growth HALVES ahead of Budget

UK retail sales in September grew just 1.3% year-on-year, as households held back spending amid fears that Budget tax rises would push up prices and threaten high street jobs.
UK retail sales in September grew just 1.3% year-on-year, as households held back spending amid fears that Budget tax rises would push up prices and threaten high street jobs.
Shoppers on a UK high street, as figures show non-food sales grew just 0.3% in September, with clothing and footwear hit hardest by unseasonably warm weather.
Shoppers on a UK high street, as figures show non-food sales grew just 0.3% in September, with clothing and footwear hit hardest by unseasonably warm weather.

Chancellor John Healey is under direct pressure from Britain's retail sector as he holds crunch talks with business leaders at 11 Downing Street today. The British Retail Consortium cautioned that a further increase in business rates would stifle investment on the high street and threaten local employment. Retail sales grew just 1.3% in the year to September, down from 2.3% a year earlier and below the 1.5% twelve-month average. BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson told Healey he 'cannot promise to ease the cost of living while piling more costs onto the retailers working to keep prices down.'

M&S chief executive Stuart Machin branded Labour's previous two Budgets 'a disaster' and demanded Healey 'unravel the mistakes.'

Non-food sales were virtually flat at 0.3% growth, with clothing hit hardest as unseasonably warm weather delayed the shift to autumn wardrobes.

A BRC poll found that nine in ten UK adults regard the cost of living as a priority for government action, heaping public pressure on Healey ahead of the October 28 Budget.

MoreDaily MailHigh street grapples with 'fragile' confidence ahead of BudgetThe TelegraphJohn Healey warned that tax raid on shops will stoke inflationLBCRetail sales sluggish as consumers exercise spending caution ahead of BudgetCity A.M.Retail sales ‘sluggish’ as shoppers feel cautious ahead of Budgetwww.marketscreener.comUK retail sales growth "subdued" as shoppers wait for budget - www.marketscreener.comDPA InternationalUK retail sales sluggish as consumers show caution ahead of budgetThe GrocerFood sales grow in September but shoppers ‘remain cautious’ as budget looms - The Grocer
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