M&S chief executive Stuart Machin has accused the UK government of raiding the retail sector “like a piggy bank” to finance its growth plans.

In a standalone 1,200-word statement piece published in the Sunday Times, he said the UK retail sector is being hit with tax rises, wage increases and recycling levies “to unfairly fund the chancellor’s ambitious growth plans”.

While understanding that Rachel Reeves’ “business balancing act [is] an extremely precarious one” and that many announcements in her recent speech outlining her plans last month “were commendable”, Machin said it “failed to address the significant impact of the Budget on the here and now”. 

He said: “At its heart remains a contradiction: long-term growth ambitions are laudable, but they are at risk of remaining only that unless action is taken to encourage growth today. If the government wants to invest in the future, then lightening the burden that the Budget loaded onto the retail sector should be at the top of its immediate action list.”

Asking of the chancellor “to get the balance right, show her strength of leadership”, he laid out his own four-point plan.

First, he wants to phase the timing of the NICs [National Insurance contributions] threshold decrease over two years “to help employers manage the impact”, noting the idea was tabled by Next boss Lord Wolfson.

He also calls for a delay the increase in EPR [extended producer responsibility] fees and, more broadly, pause and review all Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) circularity recycling schemes, calling them “poorly planned… and highly costly and nigh on impossible to operate.”

He also want a rethink on the approach to business rates. “We need a proper review of business taxation facing retailers.The £500,000 threshold hits high street stores, which I know the government did not foresee, so take those shops out of it.”

Finally he wants to “ensure the [Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs] Defra minister works with the sector, not against it”.

He noted that retail “anchors the UK economy, it is fast-paced and dynamic, employing three million people directly and two million people in its supply chains. It isn’t just the country’s biggest private sector employer, it’s the country’s engine.”

He added: “The blunt truth is, left how it is, the Budget means UK retail will get smaller. The sector already pays an effective tax rate of 55% and the chancellor’s Budget will add £7 billion of extra employment costs and an increased packaging levy to a sector working on margins of 3-5%.”