I don’t think there’ll be too many in the hospitality sector mourning their departure.
Despite the constant claims (or perhaps more accurately, outrageous spin) of strong support for the pub sector, this is a Government that has proven to be catastrophic for many.
The increases in cost of employment alone, above inflation minimum wage hikes alongside the fiddling with NIC, has pushed many businesses to the brink and cost over 100,000 jobs from the sector.
And when genuine support has been given, for example the business rates relief, it’s been in response to the Government failure to properly reform and allow outrageous valuations to go ahead regardless.
Up until recently Reeves was still claiming to have lowered taxation on pubs, pointing to the minor tweaking of the multipliers on business rates, failing to recognise she didn’t go deep or far enough on that itself, and without the vital fundamental reform needed in the valuation process, something promised in the manifesto lets not forget, it was meaningless anyway.
Yes, they delivered licensing reform at the same time, cutting some of the red tape and allowing operators to open later, much to the delight of operators that were noting customers drying up at around 9pm.
Bungling, noise
The words deckchairs and the Titanic spring to mind.
So farewell then to a Prime Minister that offered so much promise and delivered so very little, and even that very little got lost in the bungling, noise and nonsense of a Government that lacked dynamic leadership, rigour and the strength of its own convictions.
And what now follows? At the time of writing, it seems a pretty safe bet that the King of the North Andy Burnham is set to take over the hot seat.
This is a man who many feels “gets hospitality”. He was the Mayor of Manchester, a city that’s very bedrock is the innovative and creative hospitality sector - breathing new life back into disused buildings and run down districts.
Glimmer of hope
He’s made a number of claims of support for both cutting VAT and business rates, but with many of these claims made on the by-election campaign trail, will they still stand up in the cold face of reality when Burnham meets the implacable views of the Treasury?
We can but wait and see, but as an industry, this does seem to offer a little glimmer of hope and we urge Burnham to stick to his views.
Hospitality can be a major part of this country’s economic salvation, driving (reasonable) tax returns, employment and social benefits.
Whoever takes over from the outgoing lot needs to learn the lessons and Reeves and Starmer failed to heed and take their foot off the throat of hospitality and let it be the kick-start the economic engine needs.
