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Richard Walker, CEO of Retail Food Store, gave Iceland to the Labor Party, “Six out of 10”, to its performance in the government, despite his presentation to Mr. Kerr Starmer when he launched his electoral statement last summer.

Walker said that the height of the employer National insurance contributions It has “added to a large extent to the cost of work” and that the plans of building a third runway in Heathrow and “Oxford-Gamperbridge” will not do much for economic growth in the medium term.

The ministers called for more effort to address the British production crisis. “The project that will not be completed for decades does not help companies that need to invest today.”

Walker said he wanted the government to do more planning to reform and reform relations with Europe. In 2016, he voted in favor of Britain’s exit from the European Union on the “Edge of a knife” decision because he loved the idea of ​​”the global free trade market” and the European Union saw a “protection striker”.

“If we look back, you think it might be naive to believe that this was possible,” confessed.

Now welcome exhaustion The government’s design on “re -setting” relations with Brussels. “We must breathe that this government is not nervous as conservatives to engage with the European Union,” he said. “I welcome any steps they can take to reduce friction on our borders.”

Walker said he wanted faster planning repairs to facilitate the opening of new stores, Iceland It has 30 stores in the planning pipeline all “delay”.

It also urges the Labor Party to revive its idea of ​​online sales tax to create a “fair balance” between digital and material retailers – although the grocery work on the Internet in Iceland has a larger market share of bricks and mortar.

“I am not defending a less tax, I just defend a level stadium,” he said. “If the Amazon depot is burned, it will underestimate the firefighter. Their employees use NHS. Their trucks go on the roads. They have an agency in our society as much as others do, yet they do not pay their fare.”

Despite some reservations about the government’s strategy so far, Walker said he has not regretted supporting the Labor Party in the general elections.

He said: “I stood by Rachel Reeves from the launch of the Labor Party statement last June because I believed in the party of marriage and supporting the growth.”

“This belief has not changed, and I welcome the last shift to a more optimistic tone, unlike the depression dominated by the black hole that prevailed before and after the autumn budget. The speech is very important.”

Walker, the son of Iceland’s founder, Malcolm Walker – who says he was more than a “Farraj” – raised the eyebrows when he turned into the support of the Labor Party in 2023, after he tried to no avail to become a conservative candidate.

“I got some funny texts when I came out that I was running my back on the conservatives. David Cameron sent me one word saying” really? ”

As an executive head of Iceland, he sought to take a “direct action”, for example by employing nearly 1,000 previous streams through the “Second Opportunity Initiative” and by providing small loans to customers who are struggling.

He said that Iceland, a budget retail seller with more than 950 stores, has direct experience of societies that struck the cost of the living crisis. He said: “We see the collapsed high streets, closed the city’s halls, and the routes of canceled buses, and I understand the kitchen economy more than most.”

The National Insurance Bill in Iceland will rise by tens of millions of pounds due to the October budget.

Walker said that although NIC’s height was an unwanted surprise, Iceland could bear the additional cost after it survived the shocks worse – such as high global energy prices.

“Some companies cut jobs in anticipation, but we will employ 600 additional people this year, and we open the stores. We are a private company and we can think in the long term.” If these taxes are wise Any job within four years. “

While other executives complained of ambitious labor reforms of the labor government, Walker is more optimistic. “If they want to reduce the social care bill and return more people to work, because we have 9 million economically inactive, it is good to give workers more support. We do not rely on any lawyers to look at it.”

Walker was talking to The Financial Times at Piccolino Restaurant in Mayfair, a part of a series of restaurants owned by Iceland.

The 44 -year -old is a server and a careful way Everest’s scaling in 2023 It plans for a trip to “high -tech, very horrific” in Pakistan.

He said he abandoned his invasion in parliamentary politics: “No, I do not want to be a deputy now. I have finished it, I had a swing and loss.”

“I spent a year to throw doors and envelopes[for the Tories]. . . After that, they said: “You are very frank on food and wastewater banks, so you need to call in your media profile.”

“I was the head of the sewage against sewage and Rishi [Sunak] He gave me a bus bus against stools in the ocean, I was told to drop. “