Industry reacts to Reeves' spending audit

Trade bodies from across the pub and bar industry have reacted to the first financial address from new chancellor Rachel Reeves. 

In a speech that included plans to scrap specific winter fuel payments and deliver a 22% pay deal to junior doctors in England, Reeves accused the Conservatives of hiding a £21.9bn government overspend this year.

She also confirmed the date of the new government's Autumn Budget, which is scheduled for 30 October 2024. 

"The right lever to pull"

"The chancellor’s announcement makes investing in growth more important than ever," says Allen Simpson, deputy chief executive of UKHospitality. "Our sector is well placed, with presence in communities across the UK, to help the new government get the economy moving, provide more people with jobs, invest in the future, and bring in the taxes needed.

"Hospitality is the right lever to pull because the effect is so quick and reaches the whole of the country. We hope in the October Budget, the chancellor will deliver on the manifesto promises to back the sector’s growth."

BBPA CEO Emma McClarkin points out that during the election campaign, the chancellor highlighted the importance of supporting Britain’s beer and pub sector when she announced a five-point plan for pubs.

"Central to that plan was the need to reform the business rates system that currently penalises bricks and mortar businesses like pubs that pay five times more than their share of turnover," says McClarkin. "While the Treasury work out the details of how best to implement this critical reform, we need the chancellor to confirm that the vital 75% relief will be maintained so that one of the core cost components of doing business can be controlled.

"Likewise, to make sure that the price of a pint remains affordable, the chancellor needs to cut beer duty, especially after the European football championship brought into sharp focus just how much British beer drinkers are been taken advantage of, especially when you consider that British duty rates are 12 times those of Germany or Spain.

"As the chancellor prepares for her first Budget over the summer, we have also called on her to examine what the optimal VAT rate should be for pubs selling soft drinks and food as part of a fair and sustainable tax and regulatory framework for pubs that both supports economic growth and underpins the social and community value that pubs uniquely provide to local communities."

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