Field had been facing the possible threat of deselection, and recently narrowly lost a no-confidence vote in his local party. In the document Arcadia says it can no longer afford its £170m annual rent bill for its leased stores. Arcadia also wants to slash the rents by up to 70% on nearly 200 other shops. “When a similarly grim situation arose for BHS pension scheme members, you personally provided funding,” Field said in the letter. Arcadia wants to halve payments to its legacy pension funds to £25m a year for three years as part of a rescue package announced on Wednesday.

Source: The Guardian May 24, 2019 13:42 UTC