Autumn price hikes: How is the Autumn Budget impacting retailers and consumers?

Some high street retailers like Greggs and Tesco have warned of price hikes in April, in response to the Chancellor’s Autumn Budget.

Transcript

00:00So the Reeves budget back in October is still having these reverberations in terms of the

00:09national insurance and of course the increase in the minimum wage, which of course are good

00:14things.

00:15Certainly the minimum wage, I have to say, maybe not the employers' national insurance

00:19because we want people to be paid a decent wage so they can afford to buy the very goods

00:24that they're selling.

00:25But nonetheless, retailers on the high street, and I've done this sort of story over the

00:29last few years, are struggling.

00:33In the open letter sent to the Chancellor, leaders of several major retailers, including

00:37Aldi, Amazon, Boots and Lidl, joined calls for a reconsideration of the measures.

00:43They wrote that we recognise the vital role businesses play in supporting these efforts.

00:48However, the scale and speed of these new costs create a cumulative burden that will

00:53inevitably lead to job losses and higher prices.

00:57Businesses are not happy, the retailers are not happy, business in general is not happy,

01:01and I don't think Labour are particularly happy with what they've done, or they shouldn't

01:05be.

01:06So it's really difficult.

01:07And again, the political dimension of all this is they say that there needs to be more

01:12money to fill in the black holes and all the sort of things we've heard in the last six

01:17months since Labour came to power.

01:19Very easy to see in every sort of high street, the homelessness and poverty, and it's not

01:24by coincidence that sort of the bargain shops are on the increase, and people are sort of,

01:29you know, they're really sort of stretching.

01:30Indeed, you know, I know people who work in the sort of the voluntary sector and food

01:34banks, you know, that they're being overwhelmed by demand.

01:38So something is going very seriously wrong.

01:42I wish I had the sort of answer.

01:44And I tell you what, I would not like to be in government at the moment because it's not

01:47a comfortable place.

01:48But then, hey, there you go.

01:50Chief Executive Ken Murphy said that Tesco will do their very best to keep prices

01:54low.

01:55The firm is reportedly planning to make cost savings across the business.