Watch the moment Martin Daubney raged against Rachel Reeves’s “paltry” tax reliefs handed out to pubs while the hospitality sector cries out for further support.
This afternoon, the Chancellor unveiled plans that every pub in England will get 15 per cent off its new business rates bill from April, and their bills will be frozen for two years.
This relief will be worth £1,650 for the average pub next year, and will mean around three-quarters of pubs will see their bills stay the same, or fall, next year.
But publicans have already warned the changes do not go far enough.
Earlier today, Steve Wood told GB News the future of his wine bar is “really quite worrying”, adding the support package would save him just £350.
Ripping into the widely-anticipated relief measures, Martin fumed: “The real world is what matters.
“And in the real world, people like Steve, they’re getting a paltry £350 cut. But in the headwind of a 20 grand hike in staff costs, in national insurance, in materials, in Labour.
“It’s chicken feed!”
Martin and Sir Mel both raged against the temporary relief
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GB NEWS
Expressing similar fury, Sir Mel Stride added: “This encapsulates what’s going on up and down the country. It’s not a unique situation.
“And it’s because the Ministers in this Government do not live in the real world.
“None of them have any experience of business on their frontbench, and they don’t really get it.
“It’s only temporary. It’s only focused on pubs. So what about the cafes?
Wine bar owner Steve Wood has hit out at Rachel Reeves after saving him just £350 with her new support package | GB NEWS / PA
“The other bars, restaurants, theatres, all of those kind of things that make up the high street as well… They’re just being left to completely be hung out to dry.”
Britain’s hospitality sector has become increasingly worried about the Chancellor’s Budget and what it will mean for their livelihoods going forward.
Last year, more than one pub across England and Wales closed its doors every day.
However, the forecast for this year is even more grim, with around 500 British watering holes expected to shut up shop under the Treasury’s current plans to slap business rates on the boozers.
Meanwhile, industry experts have sounded the alarm over the Government’s “short-sighted” relief package, urging Labour to support Britain’s boozers.
Ash Corbett-Collins, chairman for the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra), said: “This short-term announcement is not the ‘permanently lower business rates’ that pubs were promised.
“While it is positive that the Chancellor has listened and announced extra discounts for pubs facing the threat of closure, it is short-sighted to think that today’s statement will give publicans the certainty they need.
“The plan to review the unfair way pubs are assessed for business rates is welcome, but this leaves pubs in the same situation as they have been for years – still facing a long wait for promised, and fundamental, reforms to make the system fairer.
“Camra will keep campaigning to get the Government to support great pubs and independent breweries so they can compete against online businesses and cheap supermarket booze.”