Seamus Logan

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Huq. I congratulate the hon. Member for Blackpool South (Chris Webb) on securing this debate. I rise in support of small hospitality businesses. I hope that the Minister can discern the difference here; I am not speaking about large hotel, coffee shop or pub chains. If the Government are serious about supporting small hospitality businesses, protecting jobs and sustaining our high streets and coastal towns, they must act on VAT for those businesses. There will be real consequences if they do not: fewer jobs, less opportunity and, ultimately, weaker local economies. Yet, at the same time that these costs rise for those businesses, they are expected to compete with a VAT rate that remains stubbornly high compared with those of our European neighbours. In February of this year, the Prime Minister, then Mayor of Greater Manchester, publicly said that he would argue for a hospitality VAT rate in line with Europe. It was so disappointing that in the first Budget under his leadership there was nothing about VAT for small hospitality businesses. This week, he said that that Budget was incredibly popular. I simply do not know what planet he is on. We have a situation where businesses are struggling to recruit, facing rising employment costs and dealing with high VAT all at the same time. Ultimately, this is not just about balance sheets; it is about the local café that sponsors the local football team, the pub that hosts community events and the family-run restaurant that has been passed down through generations. It is about The Captain’s Table and Mrs Maitland’s café in Fraserburgh, and the Saplinbrae Hotel in Mintlaw—those are the family businesses that I am speaking about. They are places that bring people together, create jobs, support local suppliers and give our towns and villages their character. They deserve more than warm words; they deserve action. I urge the Minister to look again at VAT for small hospitality.