Rachel Reeves delivers killer blow to UK’s most-loved place tomorrow | Personal Finance | Finance | EUROtoday

In 18 (very lengthy) months, Rachel Reeves has wreaked havoc. She’s hiked taxes, misplaced management of spending, crushed development, pushed up unemployment and made just about all the things worse. And she’s finished all of that whereas repeatedly claiming she’s “fixing the foundations” and “restoring stability.” If that is stability, I daren’t think about what she thinks volatility seems to be like.

We pay extra tax than ever, but she’s nonetheless heading in the right direction to borrow a staggering £150billion this yr, all of which fits straight onto the nationwide debt. Her budgets have each been whole shambles, the second even worse than the primary. She’ll be remembered for all of the hurt she’s triggered, however most of all, I believe she’ll be remembered for ruining Britain’s best asset.

I’m speaking in regards to the nice British pub. As I wrote just a few weeks in the past, with out pubs, Britain isn’t Britain. There’s nothing like them anyplace else. Tourists love them. We love them. They’ve been our favorite place for hundreds of years. And now Reeves, with PM Keir Starmer, is recklessly destroying them whereas pretending to save lots of them.

Which may be very typical of them each. Starmer and Reeves swept to energy claiming they’d solely elevated three obscure taxes, on non-public faculties, non-doms and oil firms, totalling £8.5billion. So far they’ve hit us for a whopping £66billion, with working folks bearing the brunt. So, after all, they’re coming for our pubs too.

Starmer claims he understands their worth. Reeves is continually pictured pulling pints. She’s fortunate to discover a pub to let her via the door. Many are banning Labour MPs and understandably so. Her enterprise charge adjustments will hammer them.

Reeves’s final Budget confirmed that Covid-era enterprise charge reduction will finish in April, triggering a whole lot extra pub closures and 15,000 job losses. But by no means concern: Reeves is engaged on a £300million “rescue bundle”. Those are words to terrify anyone in danger. If I was drowning and she threw me a lifebelt, I’d know the game was up.

This isn’t a lifeline, it’s barely even a sticking plaster. It’s only temporary, and other struggling hospitality sectors, including hotels, won’t qualify.

Pub owners say it will barely offset the damage she’s done elsewhere, from hikes in employer National Insurance, two big minimum wage rises, and the scrapping of pandemic-era VAT relief. Put simply, Reeves is killing our pubs.

As if that wasn’t enough, tomorrow she’ll make life even harder for hard-press publicans, with another alcohol duty hike. Sure, every Chancellor increases duty, but given all the other damage Labour has done, she should have thought twice about this one.

From February 1, duty rises by 3.66%, above the current inflation rate of 3.4%. By spring, when inflation may be down to 2%, this inflation-busting hike will already be baked in. And most likely repeated in the next Budget.

And Labour still won’t stop. Landlords also fear a lower drink-drive limit. This means motorists won’t be able to have a single pint, death for rural pubs. Plus there’s more planning and licensing red tape, and higher energy costs courtesy of Ed Miliband.

Pubs are an impressive historic and cultural asset, but one every week is closing now, quicker even than below the Tories. Reeves has gone too far however as ever, nothing will cease her from going even additional.