Labour has been blamed for the collapse of budget retailer Poundland, which places 12,000 jobs at risk – with the Tories saying tax hikes have killed business.
Poundland faces possible collapse (Image: Getty)
Labour’s tax rises on British businesses have been blamed for the potential collapse of high street bargain retailer Poundland. Taking aim at the Government in an explosive intervention in the House of Commons, a Tory shadow minister urged his counterpart not to ignore the Government’s role in the collapse.
Poundland, which has 600 stores across the country, announced last week that it could collapse, putting up to 12,000 jobs at risk. The Conservative Party has long been critical of the Government’s failure to back the high street, saying that its increases to employers’ National Insurance under Rachel Reeves were making it harder to run a business.
Andy Burnham did not bring down these costs, despite promising to give British taxpayers and businesses more “breathing room” at his October Budget. Tearing into Labour at the dispatch box, top Tory Bradley Thomas said: “For thousands of Poundland workers, the question today is simple: will I still have a job?”
He added: “Another well-known British brand being in trouble seems less like a surprise and more like an inevitability.”
Opening fire on Labour’s tax record, he fumed: “Rather than admitting their own vindictive policies have driven the cost of doing business to an unsustainable breaking point, the Government is instead locked in a desperate squabble with Reform over who can intervene the most to engineer a state-sponsored rescue.”
His comments come after Reform UK demanded a rescue package be put together to protect the thousands of jobs reportedly at risk. Yet bailing the firm out would “be a failed strategy that offers nothing but false promises to workers and consumers alike”, the Tory added.
Business Minister Kate Dearden (Image: -)
Labour minister Kate Dearden hit back, saying she was “quite disappointed at the tone” of the Conservative Party.
She added: “That’s your answer to 12,000 people whose jobs are at risk in the run-up to Christmas?”
Ms Dearden, who is due to meet Poundland bosses later this week, insisted the Government was “not interfering” but added it would not “sit by and do nothing”.
Poundland has not yet entered liquidation, but it called in administrators last week after a bid to buy the business fell through.