UKREiiF | UKHospitality chief calls for end to govt ‘snobbery’
Town and city centres will become “deserts” if the government does not cut taxes for bars and restaurants, according to the industry body’s chief executive Allen Simpson.
According to UKHospitality research, there will be a net decrease of 2,000 hospitality businesses this year and Simpson said government policy and its treatment of the sector is to blame.
“We have communities which are dying on their arse,” he said.
“It is being made worse by government policy, and really the only way to understand the way that the government has talked about hospitality is snobbery.”
Simpson said the government’s decision to not include hospitality as one of the growth sectors within the industrial strategy had seen the sector sidelined.
“There are eight sectors that they want to grow to raise taxes to pay for an aging population,” he said.
“Therefore, the 70% of the economy not in the industrial strategy has to bear the brunt.”
The impact on hospitality would be around 100,000 job losses annually and deserted high streets, Simpson said.
Allen Simpson is the CEO of UKHospitality. Credit: via UKHospitality
Tax cuts, including reducing national insurance contributions and bringing VAT in line with other European countries, are among the reforms Simpson is seeking.
“The average bank pays 35% of its profits in tax. The average hospitality business pays about 80% of its profits in tax. We’ve got to equalize that,” he said.
“It is preposterous to tax a cafe at more than twice the level you’re taxing Barclays Bank. What a ridiculous position to be in.”
One place that appears to be thriving in spite of the environment Simpson describes is York.
This is due in part to its high number of students, domestic and international tourism, and a relatively affluent population, according to Simpson.
However, without interventions, even York could start to suffer, he said.
“York is mad successful [and] is vibrant and interesting in a way that very few other towns are, but the government’s policies chip away at all of those benefits.”
