Kent landlords are backing calls to halve VAT rates for the hospitality industry to stop it \u201ccrucifying\u201d pubs and restaurants.<\/p>\n
The plea comes following the launch of the VATsTheProblem campaign spearheaded by high-profile TV chef Tom Kerridge, who is calling for it to be cut from 20% to 10% across the sector.<\/p>\n
The Ship Centurion boss, Roland Birks<\/p>\n
The UK\u2019s 20% imposed rate is the second highest in Europe behind Denmark, according to UK Hospitality, while in countries such as France, Italy and Spain and elsewhere in the EU, it is 10%.<\/p>\n
VAT is added to the goods and services people buy.<\/p>\n
Mr Kerridge is fronting the campaign led by UK Hospitality, the trade body representing the sector, and says \u201cthe key to unleashing hospitality\u2019s potential to grow and thrive into the future comes through a VAT cut\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Michelin-starred chef said: \u201cOur sector is under huge pressure. We know it. We live and breathe it every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow is the time for hospitality to galvanise behind this campaign.<\/p>\n
\u201cBe part of a movement that aims to get hospitality recognised and taxed in a much fairer way. I know that the government is listening, but we do need to push hard.\u201d<\/p>\n
Chef Tom Kerridge<\/p>\n
Ahead of its official launch on July 1, campaigners are trying to raise a petition with one million signatures to present to the government – since it launched this week, it has already raised more than 100,000 signatures.<\/p>\n
The campaign\u2019s demands have been echoed by Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield, who hosted a discussion with restaurateurs, top chefs such as Thomasina Miers and Matt Tebbutt, hospitality industry leaders and fellow MPs, including Herne Bay and Sandwich\u2019s Sir Roger Gale, in Westminster earlier this week.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, she raised the issue with Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister\u2019s Questions in the House of Commons.<\/p>\n
She said: \u201cAll agree with campaigners such as Andy Lennox that the UK\u2019s rates of 20% VAT and hospitality is killing businesses daily.<\/p>\n
\u201cDoes the Prime Minister agree that VATs the problem and will he match his candidate in Makerfield\u2019s [Andy Burnham] pledge to slash VAT in line with the rest of the EU?\u201d<\/p>\n
When asked to respond, Sir Keir replied: \u201cI recognise the challenges she identifies.<\/p>\n
Pubs and the hospitality industry are in desperate need of more significant assistance, chiefs warn. Picture: iStock<\/p>\n
\u201cBut that is why we are permanently lowering business rates for retail, hospitality and leisure businesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery pub will get 15% off its new business rates bill and bills will be frozen in real terms for a further two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn relation to VAT, she\u2019ll see we are supporting by cutting VAT on children\u2019s meals in restaurants, particularly over the summer period with the savings that were set out two weeks ago by the Chancellor.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Duffield later described her former leader\u2019s response as \u201cinadequate\u201d and \u201cnot acceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cI held this event because the sector\u2019s voice must be heard.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I heard was an industry on its knees asking for fairness and a lifeline, following so many economic hurdles having been thrown at them all at once. They simply want their businesses to survive at this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
MP Rosie Duffield has called for VAT rates to be slashed for pubs and restaurants. Picture: Parliament TV<\/p>\n
Ms Duffield is also calling for the VAT cut, along with government support for \u201cviable employment\u201d and tackling rising energy costs.<\/p>\n
Sir Roger added: \u201cThe industry is facing a financial crisis caused by the increase in National Insurance Charges, increased energy charges, increased costs of food and drink inputs, high business rates and VAT in addition to the prospect of local tourism taxes that will not be ring-fenced for re-investment in tourism.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe immediate call has to be for a reduction of VAT to European levels in the region of 10%.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout serious and urgent action to address these issues many hospitality businesses will not survive the system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pub landlords across Kent have since backed the call for VAT to be halved.<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Keir Starmer<\/p>\n
Roland Birks, who runs The Ship Centurion in Whitstable, told KentOnline: \u201cSome countries actually pay 5% VAT in Europe, so considering it\u2019s 20% here, then halving it would make a massive difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy VAT bill is about \u00a314,000 a quarter, so if you cut that in half, that\u2019s \u00a37,000, which would go towards wages, hiring, and repairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn amount like that can sometimes be a lifeline for a pub.<\/p>\n
\u201cHearing Keir Starmer talk about business rates – that\u2019s just peanuts, a drop in the ocean and makes no difference. You\u2019re talking \u00a320 or \u00a330 a month for 10 months.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s just no leeway for pubs because every small business earning under \u00a31m is not really taking home much at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo you can\u2019t just take and take and not give anything back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Alfred Arms landlord, Gary Taylor<\/p>\n
The standard rate of VAT for pubs and restaurants became 20% in January 2011 under the coalition government between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.<\/p>\n
However, the industry experienced temporary reductions during the pandemic when it was cut to 5% from July 2020, then raised to 12.5% in October 2021, before finally returning to 20% in April 2022.<\/p>\n
Yet, with more than 5,000 hospitality businesses estimated to have been lost in the UK so far this year, Gary Taylor, of The Alfred Arms in Newtown, Ashford, says something needs to give financially.<\/p>\n
The 56-year-old said: \u201cWhoever wants to reduce VAT for us to 10%, I\u2019d vote for them as it would make a lot of difference to us.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have food here but still pay \u00a32,000 every quarter for it, so over the year it\u2019s about \u00a38,000.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that were halved then the bills would obviously come down a lot.<\/p>\n
Owner of The White Horse in Charlotte Street, Sittingbourne<\/p>\n
\u201cNational Insurance isn\u2019t too bad at the moment but that\u2019s only really because we have part-time workers here. But everything as a whole is still extortionate – even our Sky bill is \u00a31,600 a month.\u201d<\/p>\n
Debbie Pettit, 62, runs The White Horse, in Charlotte Street, Sittingbourne, and says rates are simply astronomical.<\/p>\n
\u201cVAT is crucifying us and the industry,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe all feel like we pay too much tax on everything, but it really is with National Insurance, wages, bills and then VAT on everything we purchase too.<\/p>\n
\u201cThankfully, as a pub we\u2019re still doing very well, but I don\u2019t know how pubs are still here in some villages and for those who lease them.<\/p>\n
\u201cLabour is supposed to be for the working people but they\u2019re just not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last month, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced the government would cut VAT to 5% on children\u2019s meals in pubs and restaurants from June 25 until September 1.<\/p>\n
To view and sign the petition, visit: www.vatstheproblem.co.uk<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kent landlords are backing calls to halve VAT rates for the hospitality industry to stop it \u201ccrucifying\u201d pubs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625390,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[3859,84,980,1319,59,192,191,229,194,56,54,55,2557],"class_list":["post-625389","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-ashford","tag-business","tag-canterbury","tag-consumer","tag-gb","tag-human-interest","tag-kent","tag-politics","tag-syndicate","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-whitstable"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625389","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625389"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625389\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625390"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625389"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625389"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625389"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}