It is hard to keep track of the number of U-turns performed by the current government.
The latest came last week on plans to increase business rates paid by pubs, right as we were preparing to go to press on an article about the subject.
After facing criticism over its plans to axe a discount on business rates applied to pubs during the pandemic, which industry bodies had warned would lead to landlords seeing a 76% rise in rates over the next three years, the Chancellor Rachel Reeves was forced into another policy climbdown.
When we went back to the publicans we spoke to for their reactions to the U turn, the response can best be characterised by weary confusion rather than relief, with one exasperated pub landlord expressing disbelief that the government had embarked on the policy without properly considering the impact on the sector. (He was referring to comments by the business secretary Peter Kyle, who said shortly after the U-turn was reported that the government had not been given the full picture of how the cut would impact pubs before announcing the policy.)
But what also emerged from our conversations was that business rates are just one ingredient in a cocktail of taxes battering the sector, and other sectors, alongside increases to employers national insurance contributions rising energy prices and increases to the minimum wage. Three of the pub landlords said they had been forced to cut staff and shorten shifts as a result of the mounting financial burden.
The government talks endlessly about its commitment to boosting economic growth and bringing more young people into the workforce. Easing the tax burden on small businesses like pubs would be a good place to start towards realising that goal.
You can really feel the frustration in this. Independent pubs and hospitality businesses are already juggling higher costs across the board, so constant policy reversals just add more uncertainty on top of everything else. It’s not even only the headline tax changes, it’s the lack of predictable planning that hurts, because staffing, pricing, and supplier contracts all depend on stability.
I hope local voices like this actually get heard, because once a pub shuts down, it rarely comes back.