Britain is 'stuck in reverse' and the Budget did nothing to resolve it, according to the boss of Asda.

Allan Leighton, who has spent decades running some of the country's largest retailers, lambasted the Chancellor for policies that 'hamper investment' and hit growth.

The comments came as he shed light on Asda's own problems – with a botched IT upgrade setting a turnaround back by six months.

In stark comments that highlight the extent of businesses' frustration with Rachel Reeves, Leighton said: 'The country is stuck in reverse.

'It needs two things: growth and productivity.

'Nothing that the Government is doing is helping either of those two things.

'If you don't grow, you don't have any productivity. If you don't grow and don't have any productivity, you don't have any consumer confidence.

'So I sort of nearly give up. I don't think the Budget was helpful in any way, shape or form.'

He added that he 'can list 5,000 things that are hampering growth' as firms face yet further rises in business rates and wages following the Chancellor's speech. 

Before the Budget, Leighton urged Reeves to 'stop taxing everything' while Tesco boss Ken Murphy declared 'enough is enough'.

Despite concerns about consumer confidence, Leighton said Britons were still set to spend big at Christmas and admitted 'we always think it's going to be worse than it is'.

But he warned that customers were 'obviously not reacting positively' following the Budget this week.

Leighton, who made a return to Asda as executive chairman last year, said the supermarket will have to win back customers after sales dropped following a botched IT transformation.

Asda said the rollout of its 'Project Future' upgrade caused issues including 'inconsistent' stock levels and 'a poor customer experience online'. 

This led to sales plunging 2.8 per cent to £5.3billion over the three months to the end of September.

This compared to the 0.2 per cent fall in the three months to the end of June – the previous quarter.

Leighton said: 'Clearly, we have lost some customers – but there's always an opportunity to win them back. Particularly on grocery home shopping, we will have to rebuild that customer base and restore some confidence.'

The UK's third-largest supermarket – placed behind Tesco and Sainsbury's – is nearly a year into what Leighton reckons will be a three to five-year revival mission.

Asda's market share has shrunk since its takeover four years ago by private equity business TDR and the billionaire Issa brothers.

Some retail analysts are even predicting that discount retailer Aldi could be just weeks from overtaking Asda as the UK's number three..

The supermarket group has been 'ultra-aggressive on pricing' to entice customers away from other supermarkets in the run-up to Christmas, Leighton added.