# M&S boss demands tax reversal before Budget

> Stuart Machin urges chancellor John Healey to reverse Rachel Reeves' tax rises and regulation changes that have cost the retailer £150m annually.
- Title: M&S boss demands tax reversal before Budget · The Independent
- Summary: Stuart Machin urges chancellor John Healey to reverse Rachel Reeves' tax rises and regulation changes that have cost the retailer £150m annually. Marks and…
- Keywords: marks and spencer, stuart machin, john healey, rachel reeves, budget, national insurance, business rates, retail, politics, news, boss, demands
- Source: The Independent — https://independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/marks-and-spencer-boss-healey-britain-budget-warning-b3064507.html
- Published: 2026-10-10T12:31:42+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: marks and spencer, stuart machin, john healey, rachel reeves, budget, national insurance, business rates, retail, politics, news
## M&S boss attacks recent Budgets
Stuart Machin, chief of Marks and Spencer, has urged chancellor John Healey to reverse Rachel Reeves' tax rises and reverse what he calls disastrous policy decisions affecting business.

> They were a disaster. Britain needed a plan for growth and got a pile of new taxes and regulations instead.
## One hundred fifty million pounds in new costs
Policy changes including a rise in national insurance contributions and changes to business rates have landed M&S with one hundred fifty million pounds of new costs each year.
## National insurance threshold cut blamed
Rachel Reeves increased employers' national insurance contributions from thirteen point eight percent to fifteen percent in two thousand twenty-four and reduced the threshold from nine thousand one hundred pounds to five thousand pounds.
## Machin calls for threshold reversal
Machin urged Healey to reverse the cut to the threshold where employers start paying national insurance, saying the decision hit shops hard because many jobs are entry-level and part-time.

> It hit shops hard, because so many of our jobs are entry, level and part, time, often just a shift or two a week.
## Deposit scheme and employment law concerns
Machin also called the upcoming deposit return scheme patently ridiculous for adding twenty pence to every bottle or can, and warned changes to employment rights should not ban Saturday jobs.
## Treasury says growth is the answer
HM Treasury responded that the chancellor is focused on creating conditions for businesses to invest and expand, backing firms through business rates cuts and a four point three billion pound package.
## Key takeaway

Marks and Spencer's boss has called on the chancellor to reverse recent tax rises and regulatory changes ahead of the October twenty-eighth Budget, citing one hundred fifty million pounds in annual new costs to the retailer.