Britain's leading supermarkets have come together to warn tax rises on the sector will only push up food prices further.
The bosses of giants Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Lidl, Aldi, Iceland, Waitrose and M&S have all signed a letter to chancellor Rachel Reeves ahead of her autumn budget announcement next month.
They warn Reeves, the BBC reports, that households would "inevitably feel the impact" of measures such as higher business rates for supermarkets.
The Treasury has indicated that addressing food price inflation was a "priority" for it, and that it would lower rates for "butchers, bakers and other shops".
It states: "Given the costs currently falling on the industry, including from the last Budget, high food inflation is likely to persist into 2026.
"This is not something that we would want to see prolonged by any measure in the Budget."
Reeves is widely expected to increase taxes following gloomy economic forecasts and the U-turns on welfare spending cuts.
The Treasury said any tax changes would ensure the system "continues to raise the same amount of revenue in real terms".
"If the total value of rateable properties increases, the tax rate will generally fall," it added. "This means that even if a specific property's RV goes up, its bill could still decrease if the reduction in the tax rate is large enough to offset the increase in value.
"Ultimately, what businesses pay after a revaluation depends on both the new RVs and the adjusted tax rate."
Read the full story on the BBC website.
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