The boss of Marks & Spencer has accused Labour of unleashing "one of the biggest tax grabs in history" in an outspoken attack on the Government.
Stuart Machin, the chief executive of M&S, said the retailer was having to navigate an "onslaught" of higher costs and stricter regulations as a direct result of the three Budgets delivered by Rachel Reeves and John Healey.
Mr Machin said the retailer faced an extra £150m in costs this year, mostly from Labour's 2024 Budget.
This includes an extra £50m in employers' National Insurance Contributions, £50m from above-inflation increases in the National Minimum Wage , and up to £40m of new packaging taxes.
M&S also faces additional costs related to the conflict in the Middle East.
Mr Machin said: "In terms of the Budget overall, I think we all know, it was a whole lot of nothing.
"When you look at the last three Budgets, you just can't ignore the fact that this is probably one of the biggest tax grabs in history that I've seen. And of course, that does mean from our perspective that more tax and more regulatory burden just adds so much extra cost and complexity to business."
John Healey's maiden Budget raised taxes by £6.97bn, while his predecessor Rachel Reeves oversaw £67.82bn of tax rises across her two Budgets, altogether totalling £74.79bn.
Mr Machin said the £40m impact of new packaging regulations and taxes that came into force in April wiped out all food profits that month.
He added that he was "disappointed" with Mr Healey's Budget last week because "it didn't really address the issues that we needed to focus on growth".
Even the Chancellor's freeze on business rates would add another £10m to the retailer's existing business rates bill of £170m, he said.
Mr Machin warned: "When you think of [policies] coming down the road, I can't see things getting any better."
He singled out the "ridiculous" deposit return scheme for plastic and aluminium drinks containers coming into force next October.
One of Britain's most respected bosses, Mr Machin has been a frank critic of Labour's business policies, once describing the previous two Budgets as "a disaster".
'Can't ignore' hacking threat
He spoke as M&S released first-half results showing a strong recovery from last year's cyber attack . The high street giant revealed pre-tax profits of £403.2m for the six months to Sept 26, in line with City analysts' forecasts.
This was more than double the £184.1m recorded last year, when a disastrous cyber attack ravaged the company's performance and forced it to stop all online sales for six weeks.
However, it was still well below the £671.4m reported in the previous year.
Mr Machin said there had been no further incidents but added it would be "naive" to assume hackers would not try again, particularly in light of the recent cyber attacks on supermarket fridges across Europe .
He said: "We can't ignore it, and we've got to manage the risk and also be prepared for any of those things happening and how we recover."
He added that the turnaround of the non-food division remained "in the foothills" amid challenging market conditions, particularly for fashion, where results fell short of expectations.
Non-food operating profits of £150.5m were a strong recovery from last year's £46.1m but still trailed the £243.4m seen in 2024.
The company blamed "availability disruption reflecting the long-tail impact of the incident and lower store sales during the prolonged summer heat".
However, food sales grew by 13.9pc, delivering an operating profit of £288.6m, compared with £89.1m last year and well above the £216.4m achieved in 2024.
Grocery sales through M&S's joint venture with online supermarket Ocado were up 22.8pc.
Mr Machin said the company had invested £50m in 300 "key family staples" in the first half of the year, with price reductions including a 500g pack of diced beef down to £6 and a pack of free-range eggs at £1.40.
