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THE chief executive of Marks and Spencer (M&S) has urged the UK Government to scrap the packaging tax and impending deposit return scheme.
In an open letter to chancellor John Healey, Stuart Machin called the previous two budgets a ‘disaster’ – revealing that they left M&S facing £150 million of new costs each year, on top of a tax bill of around £500 million.
The letter continues by making six suggestions that Mr Healey says he believes could aid growth in Britain by ‘taking the handcuffs off’ businesses and putting money back in people’s pockets.
“First, scrap the upcoming deposit return scheme,” he wrote. “It’s patently ridiculous. Next October, you’ll pay 20p more for every bottle or can of drink. To get it back, you’ll have to lug bags of empties back to the shops – despite already paying your council for collections. And stores need to rip out shelves to make space for monstrous recycling machines. Retailers are spending tens of millions just to set it up, and will pay millions more every single year to run the scheme.”
The chancellor is also urged to move away from the packaging tax, with Mr Healy stating that extended producer responsibility ‘was sold as investment in recycling, but it’s nothing of the sort’.
“It’s a tax of almost £2 billion on food and drink, and even the official forecasters at the OBR now treat it as one,” he continued. “In April, M&S had to pay an extra £40 million in one go. Scrap it, and shoppers will feel the difference.”
Other recommendations includes striking a food and drink deal with the EU to cut red tape; ensuring the employment rights act doesn’t ban the Saturday job by treating normal weekend shifts as ‘low hours’ contracts; undo the employer national insurance secondary threshold cut; and fix business rates.
“The last two budgets were a crushing disappointment for customers, colleagues, and businesses,” Mr Healy concluded. “Now there’s a new chancellor and a new chance. The prime minister has promised ‘hope again’ and given us ideas for the next Parliament. But the chancellor needs to restore hope among British businesses, and tell us what he’ll do now.”
