By Peter Adams, Editor, CLH News.
The Chancellor’s Spring Statement has once again delivered a hammer blow to the UK’s hospitality and licensed on-trade sector.
Despite repeated and dire warnings from industry bodies, economic experts, and frontline operators, the Government has chosen to ignore the plight of one of the UK’s most vital and vulnerable industries.
Next month’s increases, forecasted to have a catastrophic impact, will push many businesses to the brink, exacerbating an already precarious situation.
For months, we have been at the forefront of these warnings, citing credible research and authoritative voices.
The stark reality is that these tax hikes and rising operational costs will lead to widespread closures, job losses, and a reduction in economic activity.
As the public tightens their belts in response to soaring living costs, sales will inevitably decline.
For operators, the pressure of increasing overheads, compounded by reduced consumer spending, will make survival a formidable challenge.
The wisdom of renowned American economist Thomas Sowell remains as relevant as ever.
Sowell has long argued that high taxation can stifle economic activity by discouraging work, investment, and risk-taking.
The consequences are predictable: businesses retract, employment opportunities shrink, and tax revenues ultimately fall.
The Chancellor’s refusal to acknowledge these fundamental economic principles is, in no uncertain terms, an act of economic vandalism.
To highlight just how severe the situation is, industry leaders have not held back in their condemnation. One particularly cutting remark in our lead article sums up the prevailing sentiment: “Rachel Reeves has now confirmed what UK publicans already suspected—that this Government doesn’t actually give a damn about pubs and is happy to see them close. She will not be welcome in any pub until and unless she and the Government wake up and change course.”
It is not just the hospitality sector that is sounding the alarm. Across the wider economy, discontent is brewing.
Many sectors, already struggling under the weight of inflation and economic stagnation, view these increases as the final nail in the coffin.
A summer of discontent looms large as businesses and workers alike prepare to push back against policies that threaten their livelihoods.
Hospitality Action, the industry’s leading charity, has reported an alarming rise in requests for assistance.
Its latest Impact Report paints a bleak picture, with surging grant applications driven by mounting debt, skyrocketing living costs, precarious employment, and deteriorating mental health. The charity has never before provided financial and emotional support to so many hospitality workers, a damning indictment of the Government’s failure to support the sector.
On a personal note, I hold little hope that Rachel Reeves will change course—history suggests that policymakers rarely do.
However, relentless protest, coupled with the inevitable backfiring of these damaging policies, may force an eventual reckoning.
The Government would do well to remember that people power, fuelled by economic hardship and industry-wide discontent, has the potential to bring about seismic change.
For now, the hospitality sector braces itself for the storm ahead.
I can always be contacted at edit@catererlicensee.com