hospitality chiefs warn labour of carnage over budget

Tesco’s £1bn budget bill fuels price rise fears
National insurance hike for Britain’s biggest private employer emerges as business anger grows 



Tesco is facing a £1 billion increase in its national insurance bill this parliament, The Sunday Times can reveal, as 200 business leaders call on Rachel Reeves to water down the tax increase.
The costs facing the supermarket, Britain’s biggest private sector employer, are the latest illustration of the potential impact of the chancellor’s maiden budget. 

It adds to the pressure on Reeves to rethink her plans to raise £25 billion through the rise in employer national insurance contributions (NICs), which is expected to lead to job cuts and price increases.
Supermarkets and restaurant chains, which employ large numbers of lower-paid workers, are being particularly hard hit 


Last week, the bosses of Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons detailed the rises they are facing, which add up to a combined £1.3 billion over the course of this parliament.
Lord Rose of Monewden, the chairman of Asda, said the change would “hit business hard” and would be “inflationary to a degree”, while the Sainsbury’s boss, Simon Roberts, said the budget would result in higher food prices.

The mutually owned Co-op joined the warnings on Saturday, revealing that its bill for its 55,000 employees would rise by “tens of millions of pounds per year”.
The bill for Tesco, which employs 300,000 people in the UK and expects operating profits of £2.9 billion this year, is based on an analysis by Morgan Stanley, which the FTSE 100 supermarket chain did not dispute.