It is a worker’s cooperative. It promotes sustainability, emphasises its social responsibility, invests in its people, and, of course, has an attractive range of home accessories in every shade of beige you could possibly imagine. If the government is looking for a company that symbolises the kind of economy that Labour is trying to champion it would surely be John Lewis. But hold on. It turns out that even Labour’s favourite chain has been hammered by the tax raid in the last budget. And if even John Lewis can’t survive all the extra costs the party has imposed on business then who can.

The losses perfectly illustrate the shambolic incompetence of Labour’s economic ‘plan’.

There were signs that John Lewis, including its Waitrose unit, was starting to turn the corner after the hapless mi

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