Political Opinion: Lee Anderson MP: "A tourist tax would be the nail in the coffin for Ashfield's hospitality sector"
By far the hottest topic in my inbox this week has been the Labour Government's proposals to introduce a tourist tax.
They are proposing to devolve powers to local authorities allowing them to introduce a new tax that would be paid by all people paying for overnight stays in paid accommodation, including hotels, B&Bs, guesthouses, and holiday lets like Airbnb.
It was only a few weeks ago that Reform UK announced our campaign to Save Our Pubs amidst a dying hospitality sector that has been hammered by taxes. Alcohol duty, VAT, national insurance and business rates impose huge costs on the hospitality sector, and pubs in particular.
With this new proposal of a tourist tax, it appears that the Labour Government is intent on killing hospitality altogether. With the cost of living crisis, the majority of families were already struggling to afford holidays. Making it even more expensive to go away will result in families cancelling their holidays and staying at home instead. This of course would have a severe knock-on effect to local economies, especially the hospitality sector, who would no longer receive the custom of those who would've otherwise been on holiday.
The hospitality sector is still yet to endure the damage from the Labour Government's plans to abolish the age bands in the national minimum wage. The hospitality sector employs significant numbers of young people, and this used to be mutually beneficial. Young people could get their foot in the door and businesses could employ people with less experience for slightly less money.
But even now, Ashfield businesses have told me that the increases in the national minimum wage from the previous budget have made it more expensive to take on younger employees. Following these changes, the unemployment rate now sits at 16.1% for 16-24s, which is the highest figure in over a decade.
Even Angela Rayner, one of the proponents of these measures, has now discovered that they are killing businesses. Abolishing the age bands in the national minimum wage will make this significantly worse, both for young people and for the hospitality sector. I have written to the Government this week on this exact matter.
But this will obviously go over the heads of the Labour Cabinet, who combined have absolutely zero hours of experience in business. They do not understand how businesses work. Hospitality businesses are on their knees begging for support, and yet this Labour Government instead has chosen to kick them whilst they are down. This will be the final nail in the coffin for our hospitality sector.
This is why Reform UK have put together a plan to save the hospitality sector. When we win the next General Election, a Reform Government will reduce VAT to 10% for the hospitality sector, scrap the employer National Insurance increase for hospitality businesses, cut beer duty by 10%, implement staggered business rate abolition for all pubs, and change regulation to support local ownership models of pubs. Only Reform will save our hospitality sector.