Hunt's Budget Could Be The End Of Britain's High Street

The sharp rise in business rates due in April may be enough to push some embattled retailers over the edge as more and more find they are teetering on the brink, says James Moore

- James Moore

Retailer Joules has run out of energy and called in administrators. Time to dial up Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" on Spotify? That might sound brutal, but there's more than enough cruelty to go round as the government continues its softening-up exercise while Jeremy Hunt prepares to reveal the price we're going to be charged for the Tory party's mistakes.

Joules's fall into administration is a familiar story. Profit warnings with revenues falling short of City expectations; the unveiling of a recovery plan amid a scramble to secure fresh investment that doesn't materialise; a phone call to the corporate recovery people.

Corporate recovery is rare in being a good business to be in right now. All this comes less than a week after Next swooped in to pick up the made.com brand but precious little else from the wreckage left by the collapse of the online furniture retailer, which fancied itself a British Ikea and once boasted a valuation of around £800m. So, who's next? Retail sales in October suffered a 6.9 per cent year-on-year slump, putting them below pre-Covid levels, where they are likely to remain as the consumer squeeze imposed by the cost of living crisis continues.

The combination of sharply rising costs and sharply falling consumer incomes was described by Marks & Spencer as a "gathering storm" as it announced a fall in first-half profits last week. It probably won't be the last such announcement. M&S doesn't look like a business preparing to join the grisly parade of failures, but the future is murky.