Hospitality Sector

Charlie Dewhirst Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Charlie Dewhirst (Bridlington and The Wolds) (Con)]

The hospitality industry is often the unsung hero of our local communities. We often do not appreciate it enough and we take it for granted. It is everywhere: it is in every village and every town, and in every corner of our constituencies. This opportunity to debate the importance of the hospitality industry is extremely timely given the challenges it is facing.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Arundel and South Downs (Andrew Griffith) said, the hospitality industry offers many people the first opportunity to get into a first job. It offers opportunity for those who want flexible working, and it offers opportunity for career progression for those who wish to move into management and maybe aspire to own their own hospitality business one day.

As the proud representative of Bridlington and The Wolds, hospitality is vital to my constituency. I represent two seaside towns—Bridlington and Hornsea—and a huge rural inland area, all of which is reliant on the hospitality industry that is part of the tourism we so enjoy. Five million visitors come to Bridlington alone every year, all of whom enjoy hospitality of some sort in the pubs and the cafés, with the fish and chips and the ice creams. All of these businesses are under serious pressure. We have heard about the 84,000 job losses across the sector nationally, and the pressures felt by individual businesses from the rise in national insurance contributions, the Employment Rights Bill and other measures taken by the Chancellor in her first Budget.

One particular area on which I want to concentrate—it was raised by the right hon. Member for Orkney and Shetland (Mr Carmichael)—is the serious issue of VAT, particularly on the pub and restaurant sector. I was told by a local landlord of a very successful pub in my constituency that he has 500 covers a week, and still struggles to make a profit, because although he is buying food without VAT, he has to charge it to the customer. That puts a serious squeeze on his ability to achieve a profit, even though he is running a successful business. Of the 500 people who come in for a meal every week, the Government is taking the first 100 covers.

VAT is quite a hit on such businesses, and I think the Minister should make more significant representations to the Chancellor on that specific point. I know he says he is approached by every sector about VAT, but it seems to be a particularly acute problem for pubs and restaurants.

[Joe Robertson (Isle of Wight East) (Con)]

My hon. Friend referred to the Minister’s representations to the Chancellor, but I think the Minister said he was not going to make any representations to the Chancellor.

[Charlie Dewhirst]

It is not for me to say whether the Minister will or will not, but he should do so, and he should be shouting much more loudly on behalf of the hospitality sector.

[Chris Bryant]

I am always happy to make representations to the Chancellor on lots of different things, but I have no intention of sharing them with the House.

[Charlie Dewhirst]

There we go. Let us hope the Chancellor listens this time.

Another point, which was raised by my hon. Friend the Member for Hinckley and Bosworth (Dr Evans), was on the tourism tax in Wales. This has caused significant concern in my coastal communities of Bridlington, Hornsea and the other coastal villages. As the Minister said, the tourism industry is already heavily taxed and people are already feeling the pressure. We certainly do not want to see any sort of tourism tax expanded from Wales into the wider United Kingdom.

It really is not possible for these businesses to continue in the current climate. As we have heard, over a third are unable to make a profit in the hospitality industry and yet our local pubs are the lifeblood of our communities. They are so important. We saw that during covid, when we were not able to go to the pub and the impact that had on communities for people to be able to mix, particularly those who live alone whose social contact is perhaps limited to visiting friends for a pint after work in the evening.

[Dr Neil Hudson (Epping Forest) (Con)]

My hon. Friend is rightly articulating that hospitality businesses are the lifeblood of our communities. Epping Forest has fantastic local pubs, such as the Theydon Oak, the Forest Gate Inn and the Bull, and fantastic restaurants such as Mila and the India Grill in Loughton. They are all really suffering under the punitive taxation regime from the Labour Government—the jobs tax and the business rates rises. Does he agree that everything they are doing is damaging our local communities?

[Charlie Dewhirst]

Absolutely. As I say, hospitality is the lifeblood of our local community and we should be doing more to look at this as a special case, because it really, really is damaging when we see pubs close. When a village loses a pub, it loses part of its heart and soul. We absolutely need to protect these businesses. They want to make money, but they are not out there trying to fleece their customers. They want to make a living; they do not want to make millions out of what they are doing. Our landlords and landladies are a fantastic part of our communities, so we should be doing more to support them.

The Chancellor, when we eventually get to our Christmas Budget, has a chance to say to our hospitality businesses across the country that we do value them, that we do accept there are pressures that have been created by the rise in national insurance contributions, that there are pressures through the Employment Rights Bill, that there are pressures they already have through the existing VAT rate and that we want to help.

Now, I know the Chancellor says, “Where are you going to cut money, if you take money away from those particular taxes?” I say, let us be inventive. Let us have a look at what we value. This is not about service delivery; this is about whether, if we reduce taxes, we might, as we have heard, get more take from the overall tax bill. If more people are going into pubs, restaurants and cafes and spending more money because it is more affordable to do so, the Treasury might actually end up with more money. I ask the Minister to use this opportunity. Please do make representations. He does not have to make them public, but please shout loudly for our hospitality industry.