UK faces years of anaemic growth amid tax and regulation burden, says Next

Retailer says economic outlook clouded by fall in job opportunities and government overspending

Bosses at the clothing and homeware chain Next are forecasting years of anaemic" growth across the UK, with the retailer claiming that regulation, government spending and higher taxes will hurt jobs and productivity.

The FTSE 100 company, which is headed by the Conservative peer Simon Wolfson, said that while it did not believe the economy was heading towards a cliff edge", the weakening outlook gave the company another reason to be cautious".