By Denis Sheehan, Publisher, H&C News: Spring Statement an anti-climax ignoring hospitality and cost of living crisis.
The Chancellor’s Spring Statement today didn’t deliver for hospitality, or the cost of living crisis that will further fuel a cost of hospitality crisis.
The pleas from the hospitality industry for VAT to remain at 12.5% were unheard. VAT will now return to the 20% rate on 5th April.
Fuel tax was reduced by 5p per litre, which at the current rates of increasing fuel costs will be eclipsed in days.
The national insurance threshold will go up by £3,000 – equivalent to the income tax threshold £12,570 per year. Torsten Bell, head of the Resolution Foundation thinktank immediately following the announcement tweeted – “This is a tax cut for the middle and top of the income distribution – only £1 in £3 of the benefit goes to the bottom half”. The 1.25% national insurance increase for employees and employers goes ahead.
The Spring Statement was a huge anti-climax.
