AO World founder and CEO John Roberts has warned that Britain is heading for a recession, amid rising inflation and the Government’s workers’ rights bill.
Speaking to the BBC, Roberts said: “We’ve lived through a few recessions in the last 25 years, and I think we’re heading into another one.”
“We have inflation coming through and we are now feeling that in the costs across businesses.
“Business leaders that I speak to are looking at how they can take people out.”
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The electricals giant exec continued: “Costs walk into businesses on legs, those legs have got much more expensive.
“It is much more difficult to recruit people, it’s much less flexible than it has ever been to recruit people.”
His comments come as consumer confidence slumped in September, amid fears over the state of the UK economy and the potential of higher taxes.
Expectations for the state of the overall economy dropped from -32 in August to -36 in September, the British Retail Consortium (BRC) reported.
Earlier this week, Asda’s income tracker also revealed that disposable income declined for 60% of UK households in August.
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