By Dan Maimone

HospitalityUK said it best in 2021, #VATsenough. The hospitality industry can only watch with gritted teeth as politicians debate new tax policy, and by extension their future.

Hospitality has already suffered years of Brexit and COVID related turmoil. The last budget simply compounded stresses, with minimum wage increases and rises in national insurance and business rates. Today, margins are wafer-thin, costs are at record highs, and operators are still scrambling to build growth.

In the first half of the year hospitality businesses shuttered at a rate of 2 per day. The sector isn’t resilient enough to absorb the fiscal blow that VAT rises would introduce, without impacting jobs, prices and high streets across the country. A sharp return to 20% VAT would be devastating.........

© LBC