Rachel Reeves dashed hospitality's hopes with her do nothing Spring Statement

I suspect we will have a new Chancellor this year and when the times right, I’d encourage London operators and operators across the UK to support this plan. It’s a plan that will generate a new sense of optimism and drag our sector back to what it was; before it became simply a vast tax collector for The Exchequer.

Step one. We need a reduction in VAT. This will save businesses and jobs, as it did when this was implemented coming out of Covid. We currently sit at 20% which is the most expensive across Europe, where most countries have a sector specific VAT rate of around 9%.

We have demonstrated to the Government how a new VAT rate of 13% can be costed, by presenting full workings out by Bournemouth University. We were ignored.

Ultimately, 13% of revenue for the exchequer, is better than 20% of nothing, which is a closed business (to say nothing of the lost PAYE/National Insurance/Business Rates and Corporation Tax).

I was recently extremely encouraged by speeches given by both Andy Burnham and Angela Rayner at the Night Time Industries Association Conference. Both supported the idea of implementing a lower VAT rate.

Step two. Review Business Rates and by “review” I mean what we were promised during the General Election, that proved to be false.

Allow the smaller independents more breathing space. Lets support our high streets, our family run independent restaurants, pubs, cafes. Set our sights on taking more from the huge warehouses; the like of Amazon, Parcel Force etc.

Step 3. Devolve more Licensing laws. Our diverse and vibrant night time economies are curtailed by over centralized licensing laws that risk imposing a one size fits all approach on the industry.

Instead, local authorities should have greater power to control licensing. I’d strongly argue that local authorities in the likes of Camden, Hackney, Islington and Chelsea have a much better grip and understanding of their own night time economy, than someone making decisions from behind a desk in Whitehall.

Step 4. End the energy rip off and with the war in Iran, this is probably more important than ever before.

The Government must give Ofgem more power to be able to step in and insist operators are released from untenable long term contracts. We saw this escalate when the Ukraine war started. Cowboys across the UK became brokers, whom are unregulated, and locked operators into three to five year contracts. At the time, I met with Richard Brierly the CEO of Ofgem, who completely agreed with me. I strongly fear the same again is going to happen with the Iran war.

Energy companies must stop using energy intensive Hospitality businesses as a cash cow, crippling them, whilst at the same time, posting record profits.

Step five. Secure the workforce for the future.

We’ve lost north of 120,000 jobs in hospitality since the reckless National Insurance increase. The vast majority of those were for people aged between eighteen and twenty five. Hospitality can be extremely rewarding and lead to highly skilled jobs.

The Government should reform the curriculum to reflect millions of permanent jobs in the industry, introduce a T Level (not just catering) and encourage students to consider the industry for careers, not merely Saturday jobs.

Step six. Appoint a Night Time Economy Minister. We need a Minister to support the UK’s fifth biggest sector. Someone who comes from within the sector, not from politics. A voice that can represent the whole industry, especially the smaller independents who are the blood line of our High Streets.

There is a plan, there is hope, we just need a Prime Minister and Chancellor willing to listen.

Sacha Lord is chair of the Night Times Industries Association