The utterly outrageous comments from Dan Tomlinson in front of the Treasury Committee this week made me want to scream.
Angry doesn’t even begin the describe it - to try and claim it was the industry‘s fault for the catastrophic cock-up of business rates, both in the trade associations not presenting the sectors case, and operators not recognising the need to wind back “pandemic-era support” is staggering. It’s gaslighting off the scale.
And this from a minister that many in the sector have said is a good egg, one that is engaging with us and “gets it”. I’d hate to think what him not “getting it” looks like. Let’s just break it down shall we.
Dan, and let’s call you Dan, because I’m not sure you deserve the respect of Mr Tomlinson - you weren’t unwinding “pandemic era support”.
Business rates relief was introduced pre-pandemic in 2018 to support businesses as it was recognised as a bit of a shit show on the high street, and operators, retailers and hospitality, needed some support.
Absolute nonsense
That relief was RAMPED up in Covid as the situation spiralled. So by all means unwind the Covid level of support, but to remove all of it, and claim we didn’t understand the situation, no, that’s taking the mickey.
You either don’t understand the situation yourself Dan, or you’re lying about it. And I’m not sure which to believe. Well, actually, that’s a lie. I do know which to believe…
Now let’s look at that other elephant in the room - according to our Dan: “Before the Budget, we hadn’t had strong and significant representations from the sector about the way they were valued.”
I’m sorry, what?
That is absolute nonsense and he knows it. We have been writing about this since I joined The Morning Advertiser (The MA) 11 years ago.
It’s been in written submissions, and I’m pretty sure all of the trade associations can provide reams of evidence to contradict this little gem of untruth. Or is it post-truth now?
We’re certainly living in a different world to Dan.
You actually had it in your manifesto! You claimed to understand the system was, in your own words “crushing” many companies, and highlighted hospitality.
Square one
To think that dropping 5p off the multiplier was good enough does not ring true with the lovely words you gave us pre-election.
The decision to try and position the trade bodies as failing to flag the situation strikes me as a cynical move. You know the hospitality industry is wounded and hurting, and they’re looking for someone to blame.
So you’ve cruelly tried to shift the focus onto the trade associations in a bid to avoid your own Government’s culpability and I’m sure you are hoping the sector will devolve into infighting to take the pressure off you and your colleagues.
It’s time you took some responsibility.
You as a Government failed to deal with the situation. You had to do yet another embarrassing U-turn to avoid catastrophic business failure, and you can’t own your own mistakes.
All you’ve done with your weaselling performance is lose the trust and respect that many in the sector were starting to build with you.
And yet again, we’re back to square one.
