The boss of Marks & Spencer has hit out at tax hikes and wage increases, warning retailers are being "raided like a piggy bank".
Stuart Machin, writing in The Sunday Times, called for the government to "lighten the burden" placed on retailers by the chancellor's Budget, which included increases in National Insurance contributions for employers and a rise in the minimum wage.
He said: "If the government wants to invest in the future, then lightening the burden that the budget loaded onto the retail sector should be at the top of its immediate action list."
Describing the sector as the country's "engine", Mr Machin went on: "For some reason this huge economic and employability engine is seemingly ignored by governments, and I wonder if some of that comes from a place of snobbery.
"The blunt truth is, left how it is, the budget means UK retail will get smaller."
Mr Machin highlighted a string of policy and tax hurdles, including difficulties faced as a result of Brexit.
The M&S chief executive concluded: "Extended producer responsibility (EPR), born as an environmental levy to fund recycling, will give retailers a tax bill 20 times the current amount with £2billion going straight to the Treasury as general taxation and no improvement to recycling.
"Retail is being raided like a piggy bank and it’s unacceptable."