Falling food price inflation risks being reversed as supermarkets are weighed down with extra costs imposed by the Chancellor, retail chiefs have warned.

Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium (BRC), said changes to pay and taxes introduced by Jeremy Hunt in the Autumn Statement were at risk of undoing any progress made on grocery inflation which has been easing in recent months. 

She said: “Retailers are committed to delivering an affordable Christmas for their customers. They face new headwinds in 2024 - from government-imposed increases in business rates bills, to the hidden costs of complying with new regulations.

“Combining these with the biggest rise to the National Living Wage on record will likely stall or even reverse progress made thus far on bringing down inflation, particularly in food.”

The minimum wage will rise by more than £1 to £11.44 an hour in April, the Chancellor said last week, piling extra costs on retailers even as food prices are not yet fully back under control. 

Meanwhile, the UK’s biggest retailers were exempt from a freeze on business rates announced during the Autumn Statement, meaning the levy will rise in line with inflation for 220,000 larger commercial properties from next year.  

Read the latest updates below.