Britain is in a mess and economy is flatlining, former M&S boss Lord Rose tells LBC
Chairman of ASDA and former Chief Executive of Marks & Spencer claims that previous Labour parties and the last government 'didn't understand business.'
Lord Stuart Rose, a retail veteran and avid remainer believes the UK government has a tough road ahead if it wants to bring the UK economy back to pre COVID levels.
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Lord Rose told LBC's Nick Ferrari that the economy is 'flatlining', that Britain is 'in a mess' and Brexit was a 'catastrophic' decision by the previous government.
He believes that Brexit's damage has been 'clouded by the war in Ukraine, it’s been clouded by the global slowdown, it's being clouded by the COVID.'
The supermarket mogul believes the true damage will never be fully understood by economists, who will argue over the exact impact for the next '40, 50 years'.
His most damning assessment whilst answering questions on the state of the UK's economy was that Britain was the 'only nation in the G7' and 'possibly the G2O' that has failed to return to pre COVID levels.
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Lord Rose said the government has to make tough choices, particularly over inflation. He said 'it devalues everything over time, and we must kill it.'
Yet he also acknowledged that the battle to lower inflation is likely to hurt ordinary workers, including teachers and nurses, who will feel the pinch across their daily spending.
Currently many large retailers have blamed rising costs – mainly employer national insurance contributions and new packaging taxes – for helping worsen food inflation in the UK.
Lord Rose wasn't totally disparaging about the current government, saying that they have taken on board new ideas and moved 'past the Corbyn era'
He concluded that 'what the country needs now is fresh ideas, fresh motivation and fresh energy.'