One of Britain's oldest department stores is holding a "Rachel Reeves closing down sale" before it closes for good.
Beales in Poole, Dorset, will shut its doors at the end of May after more than 140 years of trading - and chief executive Tony Brown has directly blamed Rachel Reeves's slew of tax raids for the move.
Posters featuring the Chancellor have been pasted across Beales shopfronts with the tagline: "Rachel Reeves' closing down sale, up to 80 per cent off, everything must go".
Brown said Labour's hikes on National Insurance costs and the minimum wage implemented on April 1, combined with the reduction in rates relief, had cost the firm £200,000.
Posters featuring the Chancellor have been pasted across Beales shopfronts
BEALES
These changes have made the business "unviable", according to the CEO.
He warned that if Reeves continues her fiscal strategy, many more businesses would be forced to close - and high streets will consist only of "cafes and vape shops" within five years.
He called the posters a "poke in the ribs" for the Government on behalf of the retail industry.
"Ever since the punitive business taxes heaped on by the Chancellor, the two NI increases and the National Minimum wage increase and the reduction of the rates relief to 40 per cent adding significantly to our costs, these punitive taxes have had the effect that the business has become unviable," Brown fumed.
He also criticised the Government for being "manipulative" with its manifesto commitment "not to increase taxes on working people".
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Tony Brown called the posters a 'poke in the ribs' for the Government on behalf of the retail industry
BEALES
"I consider myself a working person... People who run businesses are working people," he added.
"It was manipulative of the Government to give the impression that all the increases in costs to businesses would not impact working people."
Beales was founded in Bournemouth in 1881 and expanded to branches across the country.
In recent years, the department store chain has struggled with high rents, business rates and online competition.
The company went into administration in January 2020, with most of its 22 branches closing in March that year as the Covid pandemic cut short clearance sales.
The Poole store, which employs 30 people, is the last remaining Beales outlet.
PICTURED: A Beales store in Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire. The company went into administration in January 2020, with most of its 22 branches closing in March that year
PA
John Grinnell, manager of the Poole Dolphin Centre, said: "We're very sorry to see Beales go after so many years here.
"Our hearts go out to everyone affected by the store's closure, and we'll do everything we can to support former Beales employees to find employment elsewhere.
"We're alarmed to see this happening to lots of retail businesses because of the new budget and National Insurance increase."
Labour has consistently defended the Chancellor's October Budget.
Ministers maintain these tax changes are necessary to address a so-called £22billion "black hole" in the public finances.
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