Hospitality Sector

Tom Hayes Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd September 2025 Commons Chamber

[Tom Hayes (Bournemouth East) (Lab)]

Bournemouth relies heavily on hospitality and tourism. In my constituency alone, hospitality generates £162.8 million in revenue and employs 3,700 people across more than 30 venues. The sector creates vibrant communities, accessible jobs and attracts investment. Take Kris Gumbrell, the CEO of Brewhouse and Kitchen. He chairs an industry apprenticeship programme and has invested over £3 million to revive a derelict pub in Southbourne, creating a community hub and over 40 new jobs. Take Emma Sclanders of Wild & Ginger or Ricky Knowlton of Syds Slaps, who the new the Chief Secretary to the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend for Bristol North West (Darren Jones), was so happy to visit just a few short months ago. Take James Fowler of the Larder House, Jon Roberts of Little Perth or Rich Slater of Sobo Beach. The list really does go on.

In Bournemouth East, we are blessed with fantastic hospitality owners. That is because, as entrepreneurs, they are investing time, money and personal risk to create jobs and community hubs. They shoulder costs and were often overlooked in policy discussions over the past 14 years. They want, as do we on the Labour Benches, balanced and targeted support for businesses to ensure that their efforts are being supported.

Hospitality matters so much because it is woven into everyday life. Whether it is coffee with friends, football at the stadium, a drink down the pub, date nights or quick bites before events, the hospitality sector provides so many of the events that we find so meaningful in our personal lives. They are a critical community space and social infrastructure that bring us together, and create belonging to each other and to the places we live in. And by God, over the last 14 years have we not seen our social infrastructure attacked and decimated?

We need to support our hospitality sector, and that is especially important for Government Members who represent coastal communities. Labour now represents more coastal communities than at any time since 1997, after nearly half the coastal seats in England and Wales were won from the Conservatives in 2024—that is no wonder when I hear my constituents talk about how Bournemouth has been left behind and how coastal communities have been forgotten. Labour is committed to putting that right, which means supporting our hospitality and tourism sectors.

[Fred Thomas (Plymouth Moor View) (Lab)]

I thank my hon. Friend for his passionate argument for the hospitality sector in our coastal communities. Plymouth has some of the best pubs in England, and I am convinced that beer tastes better in pubs in Plymouth than in any other place in the UK. I have a question for my hon. Friend: does he not think it is important to acknowledge that the previous Conservative Government’s catastrophic mismanagement of the hospitality sector during covid is still wreaking havoc?

[Tom Hayes]

I am astonished that nobody raised a point of order there. Of course Plymouth does not have the best beer in the country; Bournemouth East does. If not Bournemouth East, I am sure that many other constituencies would claim to, too. However, I agree with my hon. Friend that the hospitality sector has endured difficulty time and again, whether during the pandemic, the cost of living crisis or the previous Government’s reckless disregard for the sector’s needs, and so Labour needs to fix the foundations of the hospitality sector. We need to support our economy by stabilising it and, in so doing, supporting our hospitality businesses.

Coastal communities like Plymouth and Bournemouth have faced significant challenges, whether it be worse health outcomes, lower life expectancy, poorer education, lower pay or higher deprivation. We need to support our coastal communities, particularly given that they are so heavily reliant on tourism and industries that have struggled over recent years, such as hospitality. According to the Office for National Statistics, coastal communities have a higher proportion of hospitality businesses than inland areas. The hospitality sector in our coastal communities can therefore be a powerful economic driver at a time when we are desperate to raise productivity from its sluggish levels and grow our economy.

[Jess Brown-Fuller (Chichester) (LD)]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right to reflect the importance of coastal communities in driving the Government’s growth agenda. My constituency has the coastal community of Bracklesham, a small village where the Beach Café, Rewild Sauna and GOAT Coffee are doing incredible things in all coming together to bring so much more tourism to what is a beautiful part of my constituency. Does the hon. Gentleman recognise that there is a quid pro quo with businesses that are trying to drive growth, but are being hamstrung by the Government’s increased taxes and business rates?

[Tom Hayes]

The hon. Lady raises an interesting point on behalf of her constituents and businesses. I would, of course, say that were it not for the tax rise that allowed for investment in our NHS, we would not be seeing so many hospital appointments and such dramatic falls in NHS waiting lists, and we would not then be seeing people who were once ill returning to the workforce, so that they can earn, work and contribute to our economy, and then help our hospitality sector.

[Mr Angus MacDonald]

Would the hon. Gentleman admit that what actually happened in the Budget was a transfer of 2% of GDP from the private sector to the public sector? That private sector is, to a significant extent, the hospitality sector.

[Tom Hayes]

I thank the hon. Gentleman for his intervention, although I do not recognise what he is saying. I hope he is welcoming the NHS investment that his constituency is receiving, as well as the free breakfast clubs, place-based nurseries, stimulation of his local economy, improved pothole filling and improved connectivity. If he wishes to stand up and say that, I would be happy to give way to him again.

[Euan Stainbank (Falkirk) (Lab)]

rose—

[Tom Hayes]

The hon. Member for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire (Mr MacDonald) does not wish to, so I will give way to my hon. Friend the Member for Falkirk (Euan Stainbank).

[Euan Stainbank]

Does my hon. Friend agree that the constituents of the hon. Member for Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire (Mr MacDonald) will have the opportunity to welcome those measures if Scotland votes next year for a Scottish Labour Government?

--- Later in debate ---

[Tom Hayes]

I think my hon. Friend has said enough—and I welcome what he has said.

I also want to recognise the difficult financial inheritance of this Government: how they needed to raise money to fix the foundations, to invest in our public services, and to deliver the change that people were calling out for during the general election and long before. All of us on the Government Benches, and I hope on the Opposition Benches too, are hearing from our constituents about the green shoots of recovery in our NHS, about schools finally starting to get the investment that they need, about those place-based nurseries and about childcare being rolled out on a larger scale.

What I want to see from our Government is a continuation of their hard work. I welcome the fact that the empty shops rental auction is under way in Bournemouth. I welcome, too, that the Government are moving ahead with supporting the hospitality sector. I would particularly like to see the valuation office properly pay regard to the issues that need fixing and that have been stated to me in places like Boscombe. At the last valuation, which was done under the Conservatives, neighbourhoods like Boscombe saw their rates stay flat or even increase, harming independent retailers. As a Labour Member who wants to support hospitality, I would like to see that corrected. I would like to see proposals including the raising of the rateable value threshold for 100% relief from £15,000 to £25,000 with tapered relief, the introduction of high street survival discounts, and the simplification of the appeals process with open data and fast-track support for SMEs. Those are just some of the ideas that I am hearing from constituents. I am sure that other colleagues will have many more that they wish to share, so I shall rest there.

--- Later in debate ---

[Robbie Moore (Keighley and Ilkley) (Con)]

Hospitality is under a huge strain. Pubs particularly are really struggling across the country, and indeed in my constituency of Keighley and Ilkley. Nationally, pub closures are estimated to be running at one establishment a day, thanks to this Labour Government’s hike in employers’ national insurance, the hike in the minimum wage and the looming threat of this Labour Government’s Employment Rights Bill. The number of closures is only climbing, and these punitive measures are pushing our pubs to the brink.

That is coupled with disposable income tightening for families, including families who may want to support our pubs. In the Bradford district, council tax has been raised by 10%. That impacts all my constituents who want to spend money at their pubs but cannot because they have to tighten their belt. The Dickie Bird in Long Lee and many other pubs are coming under a huge amount of strain as their overheads increase; they are, dare I say it, looking at closure. I met the owners of the Dickie Bird recently, and they expressed to me how much financial strain this Labour Government’s policies have put on them; that has ultimately led to them having to make the decision to close.

[Tom Hayes]

My understanding is that the Airedale NHS foundation trust covers the hon. Member’s constituency. The waiting list there has fallen from 14,779 to 13,846, there are 32,312 additional urgent dental appointments, and £3.3 million is going to the hospital to support building and other safety works. Does he welcome that investment, which is partly funded by the national insurance contributions increase?

[Robbie Moore]

As all of us know, I have been campaigning tirelessly to secure the funding to rebuild Airedale hospital, and it was finally announced in 2023, but it was very disappointing to many of my constituents when the completion date for the rebuild was pushed back by this Labour Government from 2030 to 2035. My constituents and others from surrounding constituencies will now have to wait much longer for the rebuild to be completed because of the decisions made by this Labour Government.

The Airedale Heifer, the Busfeild Arms, the Brown Cow and the Black Hat are all fantastic pubs in my constituency, and I encourage everyone to go along and buy a pint of Timothy Taylor’s—one of the finest breweries in this country. A pint of Landlord will go down very well. The Bridgehouse brewery in Keighley also produces fantastic ales. All these establishments want to be supported, but they are expressing to me the challenge of their increased overheads, resulting from this Labour Government, and particularly from the employers’ national insurance increase. The Turkey Inn in Goose Eye is also experiencing the same challenges.

These punitive measures are directly impacting communities, as I have said. They hurt young people who want to start out in the workplace. The Government have rightly made a great deal of the importance of getting young people into work, but the Employment Rights Bill, the increase in employers’ national insurance and the hike in the minimum wage are making it much more difficult for the hospitality sector to recruit young people and provide opportunities for them to thrive, get work experience and earn an income. That is impacting many constituencies, not least those across the Keighley and Ilkley area, which I represent.