The nation's retailers deserve a break, but their letter to Reeves Won 't prompt a rethink

While hundreds of farmers took to the streets of Westminster, the nation's shopkeepers protested in the old-fashioned way.

- Nils Pratley

They wrote a polite letter to the chancellor voicing their "significant concerns" over "the sheer scale" of budget measures that, they say, will push up their industry's costs by £7bn next year and "make job losses inevitable and higher prices a certainty". Some 81 firms signed, including all the FTSE 100 crew - Tesco, Sainsbury's, Next, Marks & Spencer, the B&Q owner Kingfisher, JD Sports and the AB Foods-owned Primark.

This display of unity will irritate the Treasury but, almost certainly, will not cause Rachel Reeves to rethink her plans.

The chancellor has already told lirms how to deal with the rise in employer national insurance contributions (NICs), the most contentious measure and one which comprises £2.33bn of the £7bn. They should absorb it through "lower profits or perhaps through lower wage growth," she has said.