[Cherie]

Asda, B&M and Aldi have agreed to join rivals Tesco and Morrisons in repaying emergency taxpayer support, taking the total handed back to the Treasury by major high street names from a business rates holiday to more than £1.8bn.

The John Lewis Partnership, which owns Waitrose, and Marks & Spencer were adamant on Thursday that they would not return the money, despite also benefiting from strong food sales during the pandemic. They said the government support had helped counteract the devastating impact of the coronavirus crisis on their respective clothing arms. In November M&S reported its first-ever loss, while John Lewis, which has cancelled the 2021 annual staff bonus, is headed for a full-year loss.

On Thursday the big household supermarket names fell into line behind Tesco and Morrisons, which on Wednesday said they would pay a combined business rates bill of £859m. On Thursday, first Sainsbury’s and then Asda, B&M and Aldi pledged to pay close to £1bn into depleted government coffers.