By Matt Rodda
The cost-of-living crisis has been biting terribly and several local shops and pubs have shut in the last few months.
Sadly, last week’s budget will do nothing to help.
I believe we need a change of Government and a new approach to help our hard-pressed residents.
The hospitality sector plays a central role in British life, bringing jobs to our local economies and vitality to our high streets. It is very worrying to see that venues are finding it ever harder to succeed, in part due to high inflation, staff shortages and the burden of rising business rates.
At the same time, customers have less money to spend at pubs, cafes, bars, and restaurants because wages have stagnated while taxes and the cost of living has risen.
Unfortunately, this Government has failed to protect businesses in the hospitality sector and has allowed the running down of our high streets, and the Chancellor’s recent budget has done little to remedy this.
Experts in these sectors agree, with UK Hospitality stating that the budget has ‘very little for hospitality businesses’, and the British Retail Consortium commenting that this ‘will do nothing to turbo charge investment and growth in communities’.
I believe that this budget was a missed opportunity to bring forward policies that would help the hospitality sector and our high streets to thrive once again.
The Government has also failed to deliver on policies that would help the average household with their finances; taxes are still rising, prices are still going up in the shops and mortgages are higher.
This budget confirms that the UK has the highest tax burden in 70 years, rising every year of the forecast period. Households will be on average £870 worse off, with Sunak’s tax plan only giving 5p for every 10p being taken from you. Furthermore, the OBR confirms this will be the worst Parliament on record for living standards.
Wages are stagnating with real pay going up by just £17 a week over 13 years of Conservative government.
The number one mission of the next Labour government is to get our economy growing so Britain will be better off.
That means bringing stability back so we can protect family finances, with tough fiscal rules and a long-term plan for our economy.
It means investing in British business so we can unlock tens of millions of pounds of private sector investment for our towns and our cities.
And it means reforming planning, so we can boost growth and get building again.
Rishi Sunak’s plan has failed and I believe that it’s time for a new approach.
Matt Rodda is the MP for Reading East
