Rural Pubs: Fiscal Support

Debate between Charlie Maynard and Dan Tomlinson

Wednesday 17th June 2026 Westminster Hall

[Charlie Maynard (Witney) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mrs Hobhouse.

I thank the hon. Member for Meriden and Solihull East (Saqib Bhatti) for securing this important debate and I thank all my colleagues who gave such excellent speeches, which set out not only how much they love their pubs, but the struggles that they face. That is the important thing. I do not want to talk about how much those pubs matter to our communities or how much fun I have had in pubs over the years, because the thing that we must focus on is the big screaming problem. We need to take it seriously. Warm words go only so far right now. We have a huge problem that is hitting pubs every day, and we have to do something about it.

I will set out how big the problem is. In the first half of last year, more than 200 pubs closed in six months. That is eight a week. A year on, things are even worse. The British Beer and Pub Association said that 161 pubs closed in the first three months of this year alone in England, Scotland and Wales. That is about 2,400 jobs. Those in rural and coastal constituencies have been among the hardest hit, and according to UKHospitality, running costs for pubs have risen by an estimated 43% since 2019. One third of hospitality businesses are operating at a loss, six in 10 have cut jobs and 63% have reduced staff hours. That is bad.

Anyone knows that pubs are much more expensive than they used to be. That is hurting customers, as fewer people can afford an evening out. When a plate of fish and chips costs 15 quid, that is hardly surprising. It is obviously not because pubs are raking it in. Sadly, quite the opposite is true. Pubs are facing many of the same pressures that are hammering small local businesses across the board: spiralling food prices, high rents, sharp business rate increases, soaring energy bills, increased employer national insurance contributions and rising wages. As an entrepreneur who spent 24 years building a business, the overall situation scares the daylights out of me. I am not envious of them in that position.

I am grateful to Nick at the Old Crown in Faringdon and Tommy and Mike at the Three Horseshoes in Witney, who sat me down and talked through just how tough it is to run these businesses. The Minister is smiling at me because he is a Witney boy, so he understands.

[Dan Tomlinson]

I have spent some time in the Three Horseshoes!

[Charlie Maynard]

Well, there you are. It is a wonderful pub, and we need to keep it open.

This is all doubly tough for rural pubs. City pubs have a much larger catchment of potential customers who are within walking distance and not car-dependent, which matters with drink driving. Rural pubs are likely to rely on oil, liquefied petroleum gas or electric heating rather than the gas grid, and they have a small labour pool from which to hire. On top of all those hurdles, pubs in the countryside are much more significant to their communities, as they are typically the only pub in the village and a key hub in village life, as so many Members have pointed out.

In west Oxfordshire and the Vale of White Horse, we have fought really hard to enforce making pubs assets of community value, so that everyone understands that they cannot make a quick buck from buying a pub, turning it into a house and selling it—the cost to the community is far too great. But being a community asset alone does not pay the bills. We have to make those pubs into survivable businesses.

The changes announced in last year’s autumn Budget—the business rates revaluation and the removal of reductions that dated from the covid pandemic—led to extreme distress for publicans. While I recognise that the Government have subsequently acknowledged the crisis facing Britain’s pubs, the package of support that they announced at the start of the year, including the 15% cut to pubs’ business rates bills from April and a two-year real-terms freeze, was only a partial U-turn, and it will still leave many pubs facing a business rates increase on top of the other cost pressures that I have listed.

Clause 1

Debate between Charlie Maynard and Dan Tomlinson

Monday 12th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dan Tomlinson]

I will come shortly to the questions that the hon. Gentleman asked.

The Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Witney (Charlie Maynard), mentioned the costs of administrating the tax changes. Those costs were published in a tax impact and information note, alongside the changes: £9.2 million is the figure that the Government published. On the sustainable farming incentive, which he and others mentioned, he may have missed the update that Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs provided last week, which the NFU said showed

“real ambition for a thriving agriculture industry”.

The hon. Members for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore), for Upper Bann (Carla Lockhart), and others, mentioned that the allowance is only transferrable between spouses. That is in line with the long-standing approach to inheritance tax. The inheritance tax nil rate band and the residence nil rate band are also only transferrable between spouses and civil partners.

[Charlie Maynard]

rose—

[Dan Tomlinson]

I am just going to respond to this point. For siblings, and for co-owners who are not spouses but who jointly own a farm—the example raised and that set out on the Government website—it is still the case that each individual has a £2.5 million allowance that they can use. That means that a farm that is jointly owned, even if not by spouses, cannot be transferred between spouses but can still be passed on, on an individual basis, up to £2.5 million.

A range of Opposition Members raised the question of whether the Government should set different thresholds for different parts of the country. I say gently, particularly to Conservative Members, that there are very different property prices across the country, yet in the 14 years they were in power, they did not set different inheritance thresholds for different parts of the country.

I look forward to further contributions on this topic during the passage of the Bill. Overall, the Bill, including the clauses debated today, is an essential part of the Government’s broader economic plan to manage our public finances well, to bring down borrowing in every year, to fund our public services, and to provide the underpinnings for higher growth and living standards across the country. We have the right plan for the country, and this Bill helps us to deliver it. I therefore urge the Committee to reject amendments 3 to 23, 31 to 36, 40 to 48, and new clauses 1, 6, 7 and 17, and I urge it to support clause 62, schedule 12 and Government amendments 24 to 29.

Question put, That the clause stand part of the Bill.

Alcohol Duty: UK Wine Sector

Debate between Charlie Maynard and Dan Tomlinson

Tuesday 11th November 2025 Westminster Hall

[Dan Tomlinson]

The hon. Gentleman might think that some of the OBR’s assumptions are wrong. I encourage Members, if they have evidence, facts or figures that they want to put to the OBR on the elasticities—as I believe it is called when a tax rate is changed and has an impact on consumption—to send them in. The Government are confident in the OBR’s independence, but I will always want to ensure that we are putting forward accurate costings. In this instance, I believe that the OBR is in the right place when it comes to the elasticities, but Members should feel free to send in their own representations.

It is worth noting that freezing alcohol duty this year, if inflation was around 4%, would be equivalent to a 3.85% duty cut. Using HMRC’s published ready reckoner, this would cost the Exchequer roughly £440 million a year. It is right, therefore, that any decision on alcohol duty weighs the impact on overall revenues carefully. That is what I am confident that the Chancellor will do when she makes a decision in the Budget in just a few weeks.

I will try to run through some of the points made by Members in this debate. The hon. Members for Bridgwater, for Weald of Kent and for Farnham and Bordon, and the Opposition spokesperson, the hon. Member for North West Norfolk (James Wild), raised the issue of small producer relief for wine. That question was considered in detail as part of the previous Government’s review into alcohol duty, and as I have said, we will look to review it three years after the implementation that took place on 1 August 2023. We want to gather data and really look at the impact of the reforms. If Members want to come forward with proposals for change, then they should do so.

[Charlie Maynard]

Will the Minister give way?

[Dan Tomlinson]

Of course. I was looking forward to my first intervention, and will happily give way.

[Charlie Maynard]

I am just going to make a plea. HMRC is losing nearly £1 billion a year, which is incredibly bad news, and there are massive frictions and admin costs on business. Why would we not just go back to the easement? We can stand looking at this massive problem, or we can face facts and deal with it—and actually get money for the Exchequer.