Hospitality Sector

Antonia Bance Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Antonia Bance (Tipton and Wednesbury) (Lab)]

In the spirit of the Minister’s invitation, I invite any Member to come to one of our brilliant Black Country Desi pubs, or to come and eat orange chips with me next to the canal.

Everyone in this Chamber wants high and rising wages, and for their constituents to feel that they can just take the family out for a curry on a Friday night. That is why I was so disappointed to see in the wording of the motion before us today an attack on the Low Pay Commission—a piece of settled government machinery that has served Governments of all parties well. The commission is tripartite, representing business, unions and academics; it consults business closely, visits employers and talks to both managers and workers. If Conservative Members were to read the report of the last session of the Low Pay Commission, they would find that it visited hospitality businesses in the city of Glasgow, speaking both to workers and to the people running those businesses. It is one of the very best, most consensual ways of forming Government policy, and I am disappointed in the attack on it, especially as it is at present chaired by a Conservative peer.

I stand here today, as I always do, representing workers. Many hospitality workers are represented by my union, Unite. I am proud of the record of our Government, for far from being a Bill that attacks the hospitality sector, the Employment Rights Bill is written with the hospitality sector in mind. The extension of day one rights is a policy tailor-made for the hospitality sector; as 50% of all hospitality workers do not have two years’ service, they can be hired and fired at will, as if we were America. That is not what we want in our economy. Why should it be possible for someone who has worked faithfully for an employer for a year and 11 months to lose their job overnight, with no process and no reason, meaning they cannot pay the rent next month? We will stop that.

Ditto zero-hours contracts, on which 18% of hospitality workers are employed—the highest of any sector. Let us remind ourselves of the reality of that. Workers on zero-hours contracts cannot set things up because they do not know when they will be working. They may get a text message when they are stood at the bus stop on the way to their shift saying, “Sorry mate, we don’t need you today. Don’t come in.” We will ban those contracts.

My last point is on sick pay. Some 279,000 workers in the hospitality sector earn below the lower earnings limit, and we will make sure they are entitled to sick pay. This is Labour delivering for workers.

The Tories and the Lib Dems, along with their mates in Reform, have ganged up together in the House of Lords to try to gut the Employment Rights Bill, but we will not have it. I do not want the hospitality workers serving me a curry on Friday night—

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

Order. I call Damian Hinds.

--- Later in debate ---

[Matt Vickers]

Very much so; I could not agree more. These are opportunities for young people to get a first foot on the ladder in the job market. Between October 2023 and July 2024, the number of hospitality businesses increased and the number of jobs in the sector increased by 22,000. Surprisingly, after Labour’s Budget, in exactly the same time period, we have seen 89,000 job losses—89,000 people unable to provide for their families or live out their aspirations and dreams. It is shameful, it is a disgrace, and people did not vote Labour for that.

Speaking to landlords in my part of the world, I am told how real the fight is to save the great British pub. Labour’s jobs tax, its Employment Rights Bill and the slashing of small business rates relief have meant that 89,000 jobs have already been lost in the hospitality sector, and UKHospitality believes that the figure could be as many as 200,000 by the end of the financial year. Labour’s jobs tax means it costs £900 more to employ the average employee, meaning some hospitality businesses are unable to provide opportunities for those youngsters to get their first job. It is part of the reason 14% more people in this country are unemployed and left unable to support their families or fulfil their dreams and ambitions—

[Antonia Bance]

indicated dissent.

[Matt Vickers]

The hon. Member for Tipton and Wednesbury (Antonia Bance) should not shake her head—that is true. It is a fact.

In the last Parliament, I campaigned for the 75% discount on business rates for leisure, hospitality and retail businesses. It was game changing for many, but with the stroke of a pen, the Chancellor stood at the Dispatch Box and ended that lifeline thrown to many employers. With the average pub having seen its business rates increase from £3,938 to £9,451, and the average restaurant from £5,051 to a whopping £12,122, the Government are taxing the sector to death. Two hospitality businesses are closing every day and it is thought that more than—