Overview

• Gary Neville aligned with leading industry bodies in denouncing the Chancellor’s £25 billion hike in employers’ National Insurance contributions as a deterrent to hiring.
• The British Retail Consortium found 56% of retail finance chiefs pessimistic and warned that food inflation could reach 6% by year-end, while 85% of CFOs have raised prices or paused hiring under new NI pressures.
• Begbies Traynor reported a 21.4% year-on-year rise in firms in critical financial distress to 49,309 in Q2, attributing much of the strain to increased wage and National Insurance costs.
• The CBI’s business barometer signaled a wave of pessimism and forecast another quarter of contracting activity as businesses grapple with elevated employment costs and global uncertainties.
• Reeves faces intensified pressure to close multi-billion-pound fiscal shortfalls ahead of her second Budget under tight manifesto constraints.