The UK hospitality sector has called for targeted support following the Chancellor’s economic statement.
Robin Sheppard, president Bespoke Hotels, warned that the government was going through a “control crisis” and that the “scars will be permanent”.
Rishi Sunak announced an extension of the VAT sales tax cut for the hospitality and tourism industry through to the end of March and extended the life of the coronavirus business loan schemes until November and increased the term of the loans from six to ten years.
UKHospitality CEO Kate Nicholls said: “The announcement of further restrictions was a significant hammer blow that will inevitably depress trading. It was crucial that the Chancellor delivered support that specifically targeted the hospitality sector which has been hit harder than any.
“The announcement of flexible employee support is a move in the right direction, but hospitality needs more targeted efforts to support jobs. Almost 1 million people in our sector are still on furlough. We need government to go further in hospitality, recognising the greater restrictions imposed upon us, and pick up the full cost of unworked hours. This would be a relatively low cost for huge reward for our workforce. Full support to sustain people in their jobs during what could be a pretty bleak winter for hospitality would be a great step forward.
“Looking ahead, the extension of the VAT cut was absolutely critical. UKHospitality had pushed hard for it, so it is great to see the Government taking note of our major concerns about recovery into 2021, though this must be extended further. The announcement of longer tax deferrals and the option of longer loan repayments should deliver some much-needed breathing room for employers.
“Things were looking grim for our sector yesterday and we were desperately hoping for some good news. The Chancellor has given us some reason to be positive again, but we urge him to engage with the trade on specific measures to keep people in work. While some of these measures announced today will give businesses a future to shoot for, and hope that they can begin to rebuild, we are still not out of the woods.”
Insight: The sector’s belief in the current government continues to be called into question. Robin Sheppard, president, Bespoke Hotels, told us: “We all like to feel in control, are often alarmed when we are not in control and are impressed by those that are able to assume control effortlessly. Currently we are going through a control crisis. The U-turn government, formally known as The Conservatives, has succeeded with spectacular levels of failure. In an effort to control our borders, we have put new ones in Kent and the Irish sea. In an effort to control our laws, we have decided to break them, albeit in a specific and very tiny way.
“We have endeavoured to control our money by losing enormous quantities of it through what will become an enormous tax burden on all us tax payers, excluding the badly suited Jacob Rees-Mogg. We have devalued the pound and ceded control of public contract work to private contractors. For a freedom-loving country, we have abolished the freedom of movement, both within and without. The timing could not be more spectacularly wrong as we face the most challenging hospitality Winter there has ever been. The 10 pm curfew de-powers the festive season, removing December’s historic ability to be the one month that we make really good profits.
“Whilst all this is taking place, of course, we are expected to believe in the rhetoric of our government which lacks elocution, erudition, control and meaning. We will get through this but the scars will be permanent and the likelihood of civil unrest along the way, grows by the day. The smell of cordite, post the poll-tax riots in Trafalgar Square, still lingers in my nostrils, along with the terrible sense of déjà vu.”