Hospitality Needs a Sector-Specific VAT Reduction
110,000 Hospitality jobs have been lost since the
Chancellor’s reckless National Insurance increase
Sacha Lord has called on Rachel Reeves to offer hospitality a sector-specific VAT reduction.
Writing for The Standard, Sacha explained that contrary to popular belief, he loves London, and wants to see it thrive:
“London is the capital of the UK and when London benefits, I believe it benefits the rest of the UK. At the moment, London is suffering because of the government. I think it’s fair to say having a much-scrutinised “Night Czar” didn’t work and the new model of having a taskforce is much better - a smart move by City Hall, engaging key stakeholders and operators - but more needs to be done.
I’m someone with strong Labour values, but I’ll be the first to admit that the set-up with the current leadership and the Chancellor just isn’t working. I used to be a Labour Party member and donor, but gave both up after seeing - in disgust - their fall back on their promises to help the hospitality sector.
Hospitality is the fifth biggest industry in the UK and the third-largest employer. Since the Chancellor’s first Budget, and purely because of her reckless National Insurance increase, we’ve lost 110,000 jobs, with operators cutting hours at any and every opportunity. Sadly, these losses are affecting mainly young people, who might have had a weekend job in a local restaurant or pub to help them through college. They are now an expense many simply can’t afford under the new rules.
We were also promised business rates reform, a “much fairer” system. It couldn’t be further from the truth, with pub rate valuations increasing on average by 76% and hotels alarmingly up 115%. The recent rates reduction for pubs isn’t enough.
I was recently invited to sit on a hospitality panel at the Tory conference in Manchester, to which I agreed. The week before, I was totally taken aback when they named the panel “Labour Hates Fun’ but I’m actually starting to think that possibly could be the case.
The Chancellor announced the business rates reform at the dispatch box, then realising the uproar, took a left turn and said she wasn’t fully aware of the facts. Well, I’m sorry, that’s simply not the case. Every major trade body presented the facts. They knew what they were doing.”
