Greg Stafford pub campaign

Tindle News

Pub owners have issued a stark warning about the impact of rising taxes on the hospitality industry, arguing that the latest Labour Budget poses a greater threat to pubs than the Covid pandemic. It comes as Greg Stafford, the Conservative MP for Farnham and Bordon, launched a campaign urging the Government to reduce the tax burden on the struggling sector.

Transcript

00:00So I'm running a campaign to promote and save our local pubs and I'm here in the Bluebell

00:11in Dock and Fields and one of the really key things is that pubs are feeling our increase

00:16in VAT, increase in duty, increases in minimum wage, all of which are having a massive impact

00:23on their bills.

00:24And so I'm asking residents, one to support your local pub, two of course to give me some

00:29suggestions about what you think we should be doing to try and help these pubs.

00:32That might be a cut in VAT, that might be a cut in duty, but I'm running a survey on

00:36my website, please fill it out and then I can go to the Chancellor and say to her, look

00:40this is how we're going to save our local pubs in our area.

00:43I'm backing the campaign because I think pubs are going to be unfairly burdened with what's

00:49happening in the new budget and I think that's been ongoing since Covid, there's not really

00:54been any help for an industry that was decimated during Covid, so it would be nice to get some

01:00more support for public houses which I think have played a key role in the local area wherever

01:08they are.

01:13I think one of the key things is that we're a round table, people don't really feel a

01:17Covid will harm, it's false, and I think a lot of things are false.

01:20They're making loads of money.

01:21They're making loads of money.

01:22Gold mines.

01:23Because the margins are so small, people don't realise it, and something like this hopefully

01:27is made in people's minds that actually there is, there are problems.

01:31And I know from the industry that, as I said, we've had a number of help lines, the calls

01:37that we've had since the beginning of the year to help people that are really in distress.

01:44If it doesn't change, if government doesn't do something about the level of taxation that's

01:49being forced on pubs, there's going to be a massive catastrophe in the industry and

01:56pubs are going to close all over the place.

01:59And I'm really pleased that Greg is helping lobby government and raise awareness for it

02:05because we need independent pubs.

02:08They do so much good in so many communities.

02:11And it's just not going to be viable for them to continue.

02:16So we're asking for VAT to be reduced to 10% in hospitality, as it is in many, many

02:22European countries, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Greece.

02:25They've all got specific rates for VAT rates for hospitality that are typically between

02:316% and 14%.

02:33We're paying 20%.

02:37And we want them to change the measures that they've announced in the budget to ensure

02:44that hospitality can thrive.

02:46We're the third largest employer in the UK and we can be a real driver for growth, if

02:51we're allowed to be, but unfortunately that growth is being stifled by the changes that

02:57Labour have made and it's going to make trading very, very difficult for us.

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