'Not Welcome!': Labour's Dispute with Public Houses Promises a Upcoming Year Headache.
Labour MPs returning to their constituencies this weekend might experience a wave of relief as a turbulent parliamentary session wraps up. However, for those hoping to visit their neighborhood bar for a relaxing pint, holiday spirit could be lacking. In fact, some may realize they are barred from entry.
In recent weeks, businesses across the country have been putting up signs that state "Labour MPs Not Welcome" in objection to revisions in commercial property taxes revealed by the Finance Minister, Rachel Reeves, in her latest financial statement.
This movement results in one fewer escape for many Labour MPs seeking solace from the bruising reality of their party's unpopularity. Backbenchers now say commonplace hostility in everyday places after a challenging first period that has seen the government's support plummet from around 34% to roughly 18%.
"It can be hard being the MP of the area you have always lived in," commented one. "The local pub is where we would go with the kids and just be a ordinary family. But the recent visits we've just ended up being verbally abused by other patrons. Now I'm not even sure we'll be able to be served."
This palpable disappointment is visible in a recent video by Tom Hayes, the Labour MP for Bournemouth East, lamenting being barred from one of his regular haunts, the Larderhouse.
"It's meant to be a time of joy," he stated. "However the Larderhouse and other establishments with a 'No Labour MPs' sticker in the window, they are eroding the community spirit that publicans have helped to foster." He went on, "Politics must be kept politics off the main street altogether, but especially at Christmas."
'Pubs Have a Special Place in the National Identity
After a tough times marked by high costs, the COVID-19 crisis, and changing habits, licensees were hopeful the budget might bring some support—specifically through a long-promised overhaul of the business rates system.
But the chancellor dashed those expectations, keeping the system unreformed and choosing instead to lower the multiplier and pledge ÂŁ4.3bn over three years in aid for the shops, pubs, and restaurants sectors.
While seemingly a positive step, the impact of that funding pledge has been dwarfed by the effect of a periodic property revaluation, which has caused the rateable value of hospitality venues to spike from their pandemic-era lows.
Beginning in next April, rates are set to increase by 115% for the average hotel and 76% for a pub, versus just four percent for big grocery chains and 7% for distribution warehouses. Whitbread, which operates pubs, restaurants and the Premier Inn hotel chain, estimates it will face an additional tax bill of between ÂŁ40m and ÂŁ50m as a result.
Joe Butler, the landlord at the Tollemache Arms in Northamptonshire, explained: "With the click of a finger, the worth of our business has increased twofold. That's going to be a significant burden for us."
This burden on business owners is certainly passed on to the price of a punter's pint.
"A pint of beer is now too high. When we first started here 10 years ago, we charged ÂŁ3.40 a pint. We're now verging on ÂŁ7 a pint," Butler said.
At the same time, Covid-era tax discounts are ending, while sector businesses are still managing rises in national insurance and the minimum wage from the previous budget.
"If you wanted to write the worst possible financial plan for pubs and consumers, you would have come close to what we saw," said Ash Corbett-Collins, the chair of Camra, the consumer organisation.
A number within the Labour party think this is a fight they ought to have avoided, not least because of the central role the local pub holds in national life.
Richard Quigley, the MP for the Isle of Wight West, who also operates a fish and chip shop on the island, commented: "We promised for two years to pubs and hospitality businesses that we are going to offer relief but then they get affected by this revaluation. We cannot allow rates going down for big corporations but up for local venues."
Commentators highlight that Keir Starmer himself has long been a frequent patron at his local, the Pineapple in north London, and regularly mentions their value to local communities. "We all enjoy nothing more than going to the local for a drink, myself included," the PM stated in February.
But pollsters liken confronting publicans to taking on NHS workers in terms of political risk.
Joe Twyman, co-founder of the public opinion consultancy Deltapoll, said: "From the Queen Vic to the Rovers Return, pubs have a unique position in the British psyche.
"In the public's view the neighborhood inn is seen as an integral component of the community, even if a good proportion of those same people will rarely actually drink there.
"The political risk with antagonising pubs is that your critics will quickly accuse you of undermining the very heart of this country and its traditions, particularly in the countryside. And they will be able to produce many emotive examples to drive the message home."
'Not a Personal Vendetta'
One such instance is Andy Lennox, the landlord at the Old Thatch pub in Wimborne, Dorset, and the organiser of the "MPs Barred" initiative. Lennox says he has distributed signs to nearly 1,000 premises and is dispatching 100 more every day.
His protest has been backed by a number of prominent figures, including broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson, who owns a pub called the Farmer's Dog, and singer Rick Astley, who part-owns a brewpub in north London—although the latter has said he will not refuse service to Labour MPs.
"We have been asking for support for a very long time," stated Lennox, who is demanding a short-term VAT reduction. "The government is dressing this up as a support measure but that's not what people are feeling, and that is the thing that has angered so many people."
A number within the hospitality trade feel a protest targeting individual Labour MPs is likely to have unintended consequences. "I'm not sure it's a wise move to ban the very individuals we should be trying to engage with and influence," commented Corbett-Collins.
When pressed this week, the Exchequer spoke of the assistance being made available to hospitality. "We have aided the hospitality industry with the budget's ÂŁ4.3bn funding. This comes on top of our initiatives to ease licensing, maintaining our cut to alcohol duty on draught pints, and capping corporation tax," a official commented.
The landlords, however, are in no mood to back down, even if turning away MPs
