I’m urging the UK Government to back hospitality at the Autumn Budget.
Ahead of this week’s announcement by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the trade body for the sector, UK Hospitality, is calling for measures in the Autumn Budget to support growth, local jobs, businesses and our high streets across the country.
UK Hospitality’s campaign focuses on cutting VAT by 10%, a reduction in business rates, a rethink on Labour’s damaging reforms to National Insurance Employer Contributions and an end to the holiday tax.
Earlier this year, I moved a Presentation Bill to Parliament calling for the UK Government to introduce an immediate and lasting reduction in VAT for hospitality businesses that are struggling with a series of challenges caused by the cost of living and energy crises and the negative effect of changes to businesses policies at Westminster.
I’m pleased to add my name to calls for the Chancellor to step up to support our vital hospitality sector at the Autumn Budget.
So often we hear rhetoric from Westminster on hospitality businesses as the backbone of our economy, so vital to the beating heart of our communities. But the reality beyond the rhetoric reveals that many in the hospitality sector are severely impacted by Labour’s disastrous business reforms. The Budget is an opportunity to set things right for this sector and to reverse these punishing policies before more hospitality businesses go under due to a highly uncompetitive system that penalises profitability, ambition, and job prospects.
The Labour Government’s approach is not just harmful, it is out of step with other European countries on VAT, where the European average is 12.8% as compared to the UK’s full VAT rate of 20%, and significantly higher than the 10% rate applied in France, Spain and Italy.
So far, Labour has doubled down on its business approach while the SNP has consistently backed the Hospitality sector’s campaign on VAT reduction, with our First Minister in Scotland writing to the UK Government on this issue just last month. Now the Autumn Budget provides an opportunity to reset UK Government policies that have strangled growth, and I urge the Chancellor to enact UK Hospitality’s recommendations in full.
Note: Photo attached shows (l to r) Seamus Logan MP with Leon Thompson, Executive Director for UK Hospitality
