In a piece for The Sun newspaper, the successor to such luminary Conservative leaders as Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, called on the Government to focus on creating better conditions for businesses to expand, rather than rely on state intervention.
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She specifically highlighted pubs as a crucial element to her plan for economic recovery, which is ironic considering that under her party’s tenure they presided over the net loss of 6,800 pubs between 2010 and 2024.
But at least they started to tackle issues such as business rates or any kind of long term reform of taxation for the sector… oh wait, they didn’t.
Faint praise
The only thing that can be positively said about the previous Conservative Government is they weren’t quite as bad as the tenure of Sir Keir and Rachel Reeves…
I think that’s called damning them with faint praise.
Irritatingly though, Ms Badenoch is actually right (something I never expected to find myself writing!) - what the economy needs is the Government to set the conditions for businesses to flourish.
Not entirely sure why that epiphany was something the previous Government failed to grasp, mind you.
Andy Burnham is just a few weeks into his tenure as PM, and while he’s taking a well earned rest from a tough couple of weeks in charge, he’s sent some positive signals that hopefully will translate into action.
Real reform
But what the industry needs is real reform, not temporary measures, discounts or hand outs.
Fundamental reform of business rates, a modern and dynamic application of alcohol duty that re-distributes the burden between on-and off-trade and a fairer application of VAT on hospitality in alignment with our European cousins.
The #VAT’sTheProblem campaign continues to move forward, although the pace now feels more sluggish than dynamic, and I would urge a renewed effort from the sector to push the message home to consumers.
We need that campaign to be flying at the time when signals from Government are the most favourable we’ve ever seen, so let’s redouble our efforts to get the messages across the bar and the signatures pouring in.
- Sign the petition here
And when Mr Burnham gets back behind the desk, hopefully we’ll see some meaningful changes that take the brakes off our sector and allow it to be an important part of the engine of economic success.
