Industry leaders welcome new government
Senior pub industry executives welcomed the UK's newly-formed coalition government as the industry took stock of the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties' marriage of political expedience.
While flesh has yet to be put on the bones of the new government's economic agenda, figures in the pub trade argued the Conservatives were traditionally more supportive of the trade than Labour had been, and were quick to call for the regime of burdensome legislation to be rolled back.
Jonathan Neame, chief executive of Kent brewer Shepherd Neame, said: "Hopefully we will see an end to the relentless stream of rules and regulations that have been imposed on this industry.
Neame, who headed the industry's ultimately futile efforts to rein back beer duty in recent years, said he hoped "a much fairer approach on the subject of duty on beer" would be employed by the new government.
"We've been making our case for the duty escalator to be scrapped and both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have mentioned a review of it in the past. It's a clear objective of ours and we will continue to press our case."
Michael Turner, chairman of London brewer Fuller, Smith & Turner, said while there were concerns as to how the coalition will work in practice, he was encouraged by the number of new MPs entering Westminster for the first time. "This is a big opportunity which the pub industry can take advantage of to present its case," he said.
Turner called on the whole trade to contact their local MPs to press the case for better treatment. "People say beer duty is not the key issue but from every pint sold 50p goes to the Exchequer. Duty has roared ahead in recent years and had the effect of hitting volumes, thereby reducing the tax take," he added.
Douglas Jack, an analyst with City firm Numis Securities, said the new government should be "overall positive" for the UK's leisure sector. "The most immediate risk is a VAT increase to 20 per cent. Some operators, such as JD Wetherspoon, have said it is likely to absorb this, while others are likely to pass it on."
John Walker, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said despite the compromises agreed between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, "the policies laid out will help to safeguard business confidence allowing it to support further economic recovery. We are pleased that coalition negotiators have listened to the business community and plan to reverse the proposed one per cent increase in National Insurance Contributions for employers."
Increasing personal tax thresholds, one of the government's new objectives, was something that FSB has been urging for some time, he said. "This will not only provide more disposable income for the lowest paid workers, but will also encourage businesses to take on more staff."
