Jeremy Clarkson has joined hundreds of landlords in banning Labour MPs from his pub in response to Rachel Reeves’ Budget.
The TV presenter said Sir Keir Starmer would not be welcome in his pub when it opened last year, but he has since extended the ban to all Labour MPs after his annual business rates bill soared from £28,000 to over £50,000.
The ban is an extension of the “#taxedout” campaign launched by UK Hospitality.
Allen Simpson, chief executive of UK Hospitality, warned that the average pub will in fact see its business rates go up by 76 per cent following the chancellor’s changes.
He said: “We will see business losses and closures.”
It also comes amid anger over the hike in employer contributions to national insurance in Ms Reeves’ first Budget, two consecutive inflation busting increases in the minimum and living wages.
Added to that some like the former Top Gear presenter are furious over the “family farm tax” extending inheritance tax to farms for the first time.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) Mr Clarkson, who has previously hosted Tory leader Kemi Badenoch at his The Farmer’s Dog pub, said: “To be clear, I have banned all Labour MPs from my pub, except one: Markus Campbell Savours. He’s welcome any time.
“And not just because the Labour Party has now sacked him.”
Mr Campbell Savours, the MP for Penrith and Solway, was recently suspended from the parliamentary Labour Party for voting against the government on the family farm tax.
The Three Colts pub in Buckhurst Hill, Essex also posted a picture of a “No Labour MPs” being shared by the campaign, saying: “After that horrendous Budget and the blatant lies on Business rates, we are joining pubs up and down the country.”
Steve Perez, a hospitality owner and former CBI Entrepreneur of the Year, told GB News: “We’re taxed out! You can’t continue to tax this industry over and over again!”
The Old Thatch landlord Andy Lennox told the BBC: “Without this intervention pubs would have faced a 45% rise in bills next year. We’ve cut that down to just 4 per cent.
“We’ve also maintained the draught beer duty cut, eased licences rules over pavement drinks and events, and capped corporation tax.
“These measures show we’re backing hospitality not abandoning it.”
He went on: “Everyone is fed up because the Labour government hasn’t listened and instead has taxed us more.
“What’s really angered people is they’re acting as if they haven’t – it’s as if somebody has pushed the wrong button and, instead of taxing Amazon and the warehouses they’re taxing us instead.
“We have been imploring our MPs for years because people are going out of business, and it’s not because they’re a bad business, but because they’re being taxed to oblivion.”
The Wonky Table, which represents more than 1,000 hospitality businesses, posted pictures of the “No Labour MPs” sign, adding: “Labour have taxed us into oblivion in two consecutive budgets. We’ve tried to engage; we’ve tried to explain. They are just not listening, so until they do, we’re not serving.”
With at least 250 pubs taking part in the campaign, Bournemouth East’s Labour MP Tom Hayes posted a video reacting against the “No Labour MPs”.
He said: “It’s the Christmas season, it’s meant to be the joyful season, but the Larder House and other businesses with a “no Labour MPs” sticker in the window are undermining the inclusive culture that business owners locally have helped to nourish.
“My job has just got a million times harder because I can’t go and bang the drum for businesses with the Chancellor if I can’t speak to business owners because they’re banning me from doing so.”
But there is concern among Labour MPs about the hospitality industry.
At Treasury questions Labour Norwich South MP Clive Lewis raised concerns about a city which in local legend once had a pub for every day of the year.
He said: “After this Budget, many pub landlords — small and medium-sized businesses — tell me that we are not going far enough, and that many of them will go under. They need more support, and they need it soon. If the changes go through, I fear that Norwich will not have that saying at all; we will have hardly any pubs.
“Can we not put more of the burden on the pub companies and big corporations, which should be paying their fair share, rather than on the small and medium-sized businesses and small pub landlords, who cannot pay what is coming at them?”
Supporting the campaign and sharing a video promoting the ban on Labour MPs, Steve Alton, a member of the Hospitality Sector Council, said: “Pubs and hospitality operators are being pushed to the brink by unfair taxes. Our members’ insight shows that less than 1 in 10 will be profitable following yet more taxes from the budget including Business Rates bills going up despite government promises. Urgent action is needed.”
The Independent has asked the government and Labour Party for comment.
Source: UK Politics - www.independent.co.uk
