A pub owner has warned Britain’s hospitality sector faces a “horrible time” ahead as Labour policies pile fresh pressure on struggling businesses.
Dave Burns, landlord of the Thomas Tripp pub in Christchurch, said a sharp rise in business rates will cost his venues an extra £23,000 this year alone following a revaluation of his premises.
While the Government has held the multiplier, Burns said the jump in rateable value — combined with the loss of a 40 per cent discount will hit pubs hard at a time when margins are already wafer-thin.
Speaking on GB News, Mr Burns said the changes amount to the “nail in the coffin” for many small businesses, pointing to rising National Insurance contributions, repeated minimum wage increases, high energy costs and VAT rates that remain out of step with much of Europe.
Speaking to The People’s Channel, Mr Burns said: “Successive governments have not helped this sector.
“However, this Labour Government with the National Insurance rises, the consistent increases in the minimum wage which hit us hard, no realistic cap on energy costs, and VAT rates that are completely out of line with most of Europe this really is the nail in the coffin for many businesses. It is crippling small businesses.
“We’ve taken on the campaign of banning Labour MPs, and that wasn’t done lightly. It could potentially lose us business.
“However, since we took this step, the support has been overwhelming. I think the public understand the challenges we face.
Mr Burns said that Labour MPs are banned from his pub
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GB NEWS
“We’ve tried all the conventional methods. We’ve petitioned, we’ve gathered thousands and thousands of signatures, but the Government is not listening to us. This feels like the only way we can be heard.
We were one of the first to take this step alongside James Fowler, who is a good friend of mine, and we’ve now got around 1,500 pubs on board.
“It looks like other small businesses are starting to follow suit as well, including barbers and hairdressers and rightly so. We’re not being listened to, and something has to change.”
GB News host Tom Harwood said: “You’re doing everything you can to get more punters through the doors at a time when people across the country simply don’t have a lot of spare cash
He warned of a ‘horrible time’ for the British pub industry
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PA“But even if you do everything right and run a busy, successful pub, you may not see any extra money from it, because higher taxes are simply swallowing up any additional trade.”
He explained: “We’re facing around £20,000 more this year in business rates alone. How many extra customers do you need just to break even compared to last year? The numbers don’t add up — they just don’t.
“VAT is a massive issue too. We’ve been campaigning on this for years and have been critical of successive governments. We’re completely out of line with Europe.
“Many are calling for a 13 per cent VAT rate, but I think it needs to be lower than that closer to 10 per cent given how the system is structured.
“Local Labour MPs who have reacted to this ban do have a choice.
“They are supposed to represent their local people and their constituents, but too many of them would rather toe the party line than stand up for their communities. That’s what they need to do now.
“They need to realise this is hitting local economies hard, and from April onwards it’s going to be a horrible, horrible time.”
More than 1,000 pubs had already barred Sir Keir Starmer’s MPs following Rachel Reeves’s Budget.
Stickers bearing the message “No Labour MPs” have appeared on salon windows and doors in recent weeks – just as they did on the country’s watering holes earlier.
The Chancellor herself has been banned from her local pub, with landlords furious about surging business rates bills.
Across the land, hospitality bosses have warned that increased National Insurance costs combined with minimum wage rises are forcing pubs to close.
Toby Dicker, from the Salon Employers’ Association, said his members had expected greater backing from Labour.
He said: “Our members are all decent, hard-working, kind people – the people who would expect a Labour Government, who triumphantly said they would ‘make work pay’, to support them for being the backbone of the high street. [They] feel betrayed.”