City veteran Lord Rose ‘horrified’ by slow growth under Labour
Former M&S boss and current Asda co-chief executive Stuart Rose has hit out at Labour’s lack of strategy aimed at boosting the economy, claiming he has been “horrified” by the UK’s lacklustre performance despite Chancellor Reeves’ pledges to deliver growth at a “faster” pace.
Reeves said her £40bn tax raid at last year’s autumn budget was a one-off, with new policy announcements on welfare and pension fund reforms aimed at getting inactive Brits into the workforce and unlocking billions of investment into domestic assets.
But Rose, who built up his reputation for lifting retail giants such as Argos and M&S, has blamed the government for presiding over the “worst economic situation” since 1976.
“I did genuinely wish the Labour government well,” Rose told ITV’s Peston on Wednesday night after claiming he was “deeply disappointed” by the Conservative Party’s fourteen years in power.
“We are now nearly one year and I am actually quite horrified by what I have seen.”
“I don’t see a clear pathway out…”
Rose, who is now the chair of fuel retailer EG group, listed a number of failures the government has so far failed to fix, including high debt levels, near-stagnant growth and low morale, as well as “no investment – that we need badly”.
“I don’t see any clear pathway to a route out at the moment,” he added.
Reeves welcomed high quarterly growth figures showing a 0.7 per cent surge in GDP at the beginning of this year, claiming they represented the “strength and potential of the UK economy”.
But the Bank of England described headline data as “erratic” in its monetary policy report published last week while leading economists have suggested that firms boosted spending to “get ahead” of President Trump’s tariffs, as Capital Economics’ Paul Dales put it.
The pro-growth think tank Looking for Growth pointed out that real GDP per capita had shrunk by 0.9 per cent between late 2019 and 204, with a modest rise in productivity over the first three months of 2025 showing the UK should not become “complacent”.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said wholesale retail was the second largest positive contribution to growth after services.
Most retailers fear that President Trump’s tariffs could knock sales while the Labour government’s flagship Employment RIghts Bill, which is currently passing through the House of Lords and could yet be changed by dozens of proposed amendments, could damage employment street shops and supermarkets.
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) said that the majority of major retailers fear the workers’ rights reforms driven by Angela Rayner will negatively impact businesses.
Lord Rose has said the bill will “kick business up the arse”.