Eurotunnel, the operator of the Channel Tunnel, has halted its UK projects, claiming “unsustainable” levels of taxation has made any future investments “non-viable”.

The company said it had been informed its business rates would increase by some 200% from next year.

It hit out at the government, arguing that the higher costs were “clearly contrary” to ambitions of growing the economy and increasing investment.

The Treasury said it would support firms “hit hardest” by tax hikes and would continue talks with affected industries over such concerns.

The outburst from Eurotunnel comes days ahead of next week’s Autumn Budget, where Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out the government’s tax and spending plans.

Speaking to the BBC, Eurotunnel’s chief executive Yann Leriche said: “All our investments, all our plans are becoming unsustainable.

“As you know, business rates, it’s a property tax. And our property – the Channel Tunnel – has not changed. It’s still the same tunnel, the same terminal, the same trains. Everything is equal.

“And so to face such an increase… is a real issue for us. Because we know in rail, we invest for the long term.”

The potential 200% increase in business rates for Eurotunnel is a result of new calculations by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA), which provides the government with valuations and property advice used in setting taxation and benefits.

Mr Leriche said while discussions were ongoing, this could see its business rates rising from £22m to £65m.

A spokesperson for Eurotunnel said such a hike in business rates, along with other taxes, could put its total tax level at about 75% on UK earnings.

The VOA told the BBC the body “does not determine business rates” and that “next year’s liability has not yet been confirmed”.

“This unparalleled and unsustainable level of taxation makes any future investment in the UK non-viable,” the Channel Tunnel said.

“It is therefore impossible to develop new services, create jobs, and pursue what is needed for the long-term development of our activities.”

The company claimed it had “no other choice but to freeze our future investments in railway assets in the UK, starting in 2026”.

The BBC has asked Eurotunnel what investments it has frozen. The Financial Times reported that its chief executive, Yann Leriche, told the newspaper it had scrapped plans to reopen a freight terminal in Barking and to run a new direct freight service from Lille.

The Channel Tunnel is an undersea tunnel linking southern England and northern France. Nicknamed “Chunnel”, it comprises three tunnels, two rail tunnels used for freight and passenger trains, and a service tunnel.

The link between Folkestone and Calais is operated by Eurotunnel.

Separate company Eurostar, Eurotunnel’s biggest customer, operates passenger services through the tunnel between London and a number of other European cities on the continent, including Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam.

A VOA spokesperson told the BBC it had engaged with Eurotunnel and their advisers “on multiple occasions over the past eighteen months to discuss their valuation and fully explain our approach”.

“These discussions remain ongoing, and we are committed to continuing constructive engagement.”

The spokesperson added Eurotunnel could formally challenge the valuation.

Ahead of the Budget, the Eurotunnel called on the government to “provide certainty on business rates”.

The firm has not been alone in issuing warnings to the chancellor, with supermarket bosses claiming part of the government’s business rates reforms posed a problem for its industry.

Business rates are a tax on non-domestic properties such as shops, pubs and offices.

It is expected that Reeves will confirm the rates businesses will have to pay at in the Budget, along with further details, which will come into force in April 2026.

The Treasury said in response to Eurotunnel’s comments that it did not comment on “speculation around future changes to tax policy”.

It said once it understood the “complete” revaluation picture, it would be in a position to “make final decisions” on support.

It is “an absolute scandal” that the number of young people not in employment, education or training is close to a million, a minister has said.

The number of so-called “neets” aged 16 to 24 remains more than 940,000, latest Office for National Statistics figures showed on Thursday, which skills minister Baroness Jacqui Smith described as “a waste of young lives”.

Speaking to the PA news agency as she visited Mulberry University Technical College (UTC) in east London, Baroness Smith said: “It’s absolutely shocking that we have young people who, at the very start of their working life are not learning, and they’re not earning.

“That is an enormous waste of talent, and really an outrage that young people are being left in that position.

“But it’s also a waste for the future of the country because when you start not in employment or learning, it’s going to be much more difficult for you to get into work later.”

She said the Government is “absolutely focused” on how it can “turn this around” citing the youth guarantee, which is set to ensure 18 to 21-year-olds have access to education, training, an apprenticeship or ultimately guaranteed paid work if they cannot find a job.

“We’re absolutely serious that it is an absolute scandal,” Baroness Smith said.

“It’s a waste of young lives.”

Baroness Smith was shown around the UTC, for students aged 14 to 19, which specialises in technical subjects.

She said making sure that there are “the sorts of courses that will attract young people”, like the ones at the UTC, is one way the Government will bring down the number of neets.

“We’re developing youth hubs, for example, that bring together all of the services, the employment support, but also perhaps mental health support, wellbeing, helping young people with careers advice and guidance,” she added.

“We’re putting them into the places where young people are more likely to go – sports clubs, libraries, community areas – so bringing together that range of support for young people to get into work.”

The trust which Mulberry UTC is part of partners with Mercedes-Benz Grand Prix to deliver a programme offering students extra-curricular activities in science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem).

Asked whether the Government is incentivising other companies to help get more young people into education, employment or training, Baroness Smith said: “There’s every incentive for the sorts of partners that we’ve seen here at the UTC so Mercedes, the National Theatre, to work with schools and colleges, because you’re giving something to young people but what you’re doing is you’re providing a pipeline of future employees.

“So what we find, for example, in T-levels, and I’ve seen T-levels in creative media, what you see in those subjects is where young people get to have an industrial placement with an employer.

“They get a fantastic amount out of it, but the employer also gets to see the type of young people who they’ll then potentially be able to employ or to give apprenticeships to in the future.”