Gordon Ramsay blasts Rachel Reeves' hospitality tax raid and warns 'I've never seen it so bad'
Gordon Ramsay has warned the hospitality industry is ‘facing a bloodbath’ as Rachel Reeves hammers firms with ‘catastrophic’ tax hikes.As the backlash over the Chancellor’s botched business rates reforms mounts, the celebrity chef said restaurants, pubs and other venues are ‘lambs to the slaughter’ following the Budget.‘I’ve never seen it so bad,’ he added.The comments came after Ms Reeves this week insisted her plans to ease the burden of business rates facing pubs will not be extended to other firms.The decision sparked outrage from businesses facing huge hikes in their tax bills in April – including hotels, restaurants, independent shops and music venues. Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay warns restaurants are 'closing every other day'Campaign group UK Hospitality noted 9,000 jobs were lost in the industry in December alone – the month after the Budget – as firms battled to stay afloat.‘Looming business rates increases are only making things worse and the Government needs to act urgently to bring forward a hospitality-wide solution that averts those hikes,’ said Allen Simpson, chief executive of UK Hospitality.‘If it doesn’t, we will only see job losses and business closures accelerate.’Writing in The Standard, restauranteur Mr Ramsay said: ‘The industry is facing a bloodbath. I’ve never seen it so bad. When I look ahead to April, when the Budget measures come in, I think those of us in hospitality are lambs to the slaughter.‘Restaurants are already closing every other day. It devastates me because it seems no one in power is thinking ahead and considering where we’ll be in five years. We’re being suffocated.‘What’s happening to pubs is madness: there was already one shutting every day before these proposed rises in business rates and taxes. They’re being crippled.‘Restaurants aren’t faring much better — I live in Wandsworth and you can’t walk ten metres without seeing another closure, another boarded-up front.’Highlight a series of Budget blunders, Mr Ramsay said he has ‘lost confidence’ in the government ‘because this has happened before’.He said: ‘Look at what happened with the farmers, who brought London to a standstill over inheritance tax. Look at the U-turn the Government had to make — it had egg on its face. It happened because ministers thought out a plan without any proper involvement of anyone in the agricultural world. Here we are again, only this time with restaurants and pubs.’Mr Ramsay warned the industry has ‘barely had a chance to stand up’ following the Covid-19 pandemic ‘and now we’re back on our knees’.‘With this business rate storm brewing, it’s going to be catastrophic,’ he added.Sir Rocco Forte, chairman of Rocco Forte Hotels, described the increases in business rates facing the industry as ‘completely ridiculous’.He told the Mail: ‘It is deeply disappointing that the Government is not listening to the hospitality sector. Many establishments will simply go out of business.’Andrew Goodacre, chief executive of the British Independent Retailers Association, said: ‘The Chancellor, and her whole Treasury team, is misguided if they believe that pubs are the only special case.‘All high street businesses are facing significant increases in their rates liability. If this government is genuinely interested in supporting high streets, it would not see only one part of the high streets as important.’Noting store closures at Poundland, River Island and Russell & Bromley, he added: ‘We see indie retailers closing every day. It is hard to know what else the Chancellor needs to see before she stops and thinks about indie retail.’Meryl Halls, managing director of the Bookseller Association, said: ‘If pubs are protected because of the value they bring to their communities, bookshops deserve their place alongside them in a fair and equal business rates system, with growth and the high street at its heart.’Martin Ingham, chief executive of the Motorpoint Arena in Nottingham, said the failure to extend support behind pubs is ‘a huge disappointment’ that will see ‘ticket prices go up’ and jobs lost.‘We’ll have no choice,’ he told the BBC. ‘Live music venues can make exactly the same case made by pubs. It’s completely unfair to exclude us from the same reliefs the pubs will get.’AJ BellAJ BellEasy investing and ready-made portfoliosHargreaves LansdownHargreaves LansdownFree fund dealing and investment ideasinteractive investorinteractive investorFlat-fee investing from £4.99 per monthFreetradeFreetradeInvesting Isa now free on basic planTrading 212Trading 212Free share dealing and no account feeAffiliate links: If you take out a product This is Money may earn a commission. These deals are chosen by our editorial team, as we think they are worth highlighting. This does not affect our editorial independence.Compare the best investing account for you
