Hospitality bosses ‘at wits’ finish’ over Labour reforms

Pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues are facing a ‘nightmare before Christmas’ after Labour’s botched business rates reform, industry chiefs have warned.

In a stinging rebuke to Rachel Reeves, the boss of UKHospitality said firms are ‘at their wits’ end worrying about the looming business rates car crash’.

The comments come amid a chorus of condemnation against the Chancellor’s brutal tax raid on struggling companies across the country.

The backlash has seen pubs bar Labour MPs – with landlords declaring they will serve them only once they start listening to the industry’s concerns.

Steve Perez, who set up drinks maker Global Brands, last week accused Prime Minister Keir Starmer of ‘lying to my face’ about business rates.

Ahead of the election, Labour pledged to reform business rates to ‘level the playing field between the High Street and online giants’.

Warning: Pubs, restaurants and other hospitality venues are facing a ‘nightmare before Christmas’ after Labour’s botched business rates reform

And in last month’s Budget, Reeves boasted she was introducing ‘permanently lower tax rates for over 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties’.

But firms in fact faced higher bills, with the British Beer & Pub Association warning that around 5,000 small pubs will be dragged into paying business rates for the first time next year.

In an online opinion piece for the Daily Mail, UKHospitality chief Kate Nicholls writes: ‘Christmas should be a time of cheer, but last month’s Budget has instead left hospitality businesses at their wits’ end worrying about the looming business rates car crash.

‘In just a few months, local pubs, neighbourhood restaurants and coastal hotels, to name a few, will be hit with increases to their business rates running into the thousands.

‘For many of these already cash-strapped businesses, the eye-watering increases have become their own nightmare before Christmas.’

She says Labour’s pledge to ‘level the playing field’ was ‘categorically not happening’.

‘This Budget has widened the gap between the High Street and big online businesses.’

She warns: ‘Business closures will accelerate, more jobs will be lost, and the price of these increases will inevitably be passed on to the consumer.’

Urging ministers to ‘help us rebuild and revive’ the High Street, Nicholls says: ‘You’ll miss them when they’re gone.’