Pub and Hospitality Sector
Debate between Valerie Vaz and Sarah Gibson(2 months ago)
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Sarah Gibson (Chippenham) (LD)
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms Vaz.
I thank the hon. Member for Mid Leicestershire (Mr Bedford) for securing this important debate and I share his concerns about the issues that the hospitality sector faces. Having a background in architecture and construction, I find myself agreeing with him about the need to reform planning and licensing.
I also share the concerns that my hon. Friend the Member for Honiton and Sidmouth (Richard Foord) and the hon. Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Dr Gardner) expressed about local village pubs. The land they are located on is so valuable for development that there needs to be stronger legislation to secure community assets.
I thank the hon. Member for Southend East and Rochford (Mr Alaba) for noting the importance of this sector in creating entry-level jobs. It is clear from the range of constituencies represented here that pubs and hospitality are important from the top of Scotland down to the south coast of England, and of course to Strangford.
As my hon. Friend the Member for South Devon (Caroline Voaden) mentioned, we all seem to recognise the challenges that this industry faces, from rising energy costs to supply chain issues to a shortage of staff. Despite the support for the industry across the House, we seem to continue to uphold a broken business rates system that is crippling our local pubs. According to the Campaign for Real Ale, our pubs are overpaying on their rate bills by approximately £500 million a year. Therefore, the Liberal Democrats urge this new Government to boost small businesses in the hospitality industry, such as our locally owned pubs, by abolishing business rates and replacing them with a commercial landowner levy.
The previous Conservative Government promised in their 2019 manifesto to review the business rates system and to ease that tax burden. However, on 17 October 2022, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, the right hon. Member for Godalming and Ash (Jeremy Hunt), told the House that that commitment was:
“Another of the promises I now vainly wish I had not made”. —[Official Report, 17 October 2022; Vol. 720, c. 430.]
Businesses are tired of being treated with such cynicism, and I truly hope that this new Labour Government will not treat businesses like that. After all, reforming the rates system is not just about boosting businesses; it is also about saving our local pubs from disappearing completely. In the last three years, 45 pubs in Wiltshire have stopped trading, which is devastating for the economies of small rural communities, such as those in my constituency.
