Wetherspoon boss urges pubs to back Reform By Henry Saker-Clark The founder of Wetherspoon has urged other pubs to back Reform UK. Sir Tim Martin, chairman of JD Wetherspoon, said Reform's plans to slash beer duty would help the sector move towards "tax parity with supermarkets". Nigel Farage's party announced a series of proposals to support pubs last week. They included pledges to cut VAT in the hospitality sector by 10 per cent, cut beer duty by the same fraction. Reform also said it would reverse the recent rise in employers' national insurance contributions (NICs) for the sector and gradually remove business rates for all pubs. The party has said it would fund this package with around 23on, which it plans to secure through reinstating the two-child benefit cap, except for families with two British-born parents. In a lengthy stock exchange filing yesterday, Martin (inset) told industry leaders "there's no question that this initiative would utterly transform the competitiveness of pubs" He said: "By eliminating the tax differential between supermarkets and the hospitality industry, and restoring margins to devastated businesses, these changes would enable pubs to regain some, or all, of their lost trade. "You would think that this offer from Reform would have been greeted by a crescendo of enthusiasm, ecstasy and support from the licensed trade and its supporters. "However, surpris-ingly, initial support has been underwhelming, at least from the great and the good in the hospitality industry" Last month, Labour announced additional business rates support for pubs. The announcement was a U-turn following complaints from pubs about rates changes in November's Budget.
Multimillionaire Brexiter, Tim Martin, urges pubs to back Reform. Just like he urged the country to vote for Brexit. Too bad if it makes you poorer. Too bad for the children he’ll push back into poverty. Tim wants more money. And he couldn’t give a shit about the cost for everybody else.
(iPaper)
