Butlin’s boss: We’re not going to tax ourselves to success
The chief executive of holiday park chain Butlin’s has hit out at Chancellor Rachel Reeves after saying increases taxes on businesses is not the way to improve the UK economy.
Speaking on an up-coming episode of City PM‘s Boardroom Uncovered show, Jon Hendry Pickup said the country is “not going to tax ourselves to success” and that last year’s Autumn Budget “felt like an own goal”.
The CEO added that allowing businesses to invest, grow and develop their propositions would be a better way to boost the economy instead of increasing taxes on companies such as employers’ National Insurance contributions and raising the National Minimum Wage.
He added that both tax rises has made it harder for companies such as Butlin’s to hire new employees and that the Autumn Budget in 2024 felt like a “tax on jobs”.
When asked what he would say to Chancellor Rachel Reeves if given the chance, the CEO of Butlin’s said: “So that growth lever that they talked about just before the election, that was their number one focus.
“I’d like to see that being the number one focus, because we’re not going to tax ourselves to success.
“We need to make sure that we’re able to stimulate growth. We need to be able to invest, to grow our business, to develop the proposition, to build skills for our team. I’d like to see more of that first and foremost.
Butlin’s boss calls for public to be ‘told the truth’
When asked if he had confidence in what the PM and Chancellor are doing in power, he added: “I’ve yet to see something that says we’re going to pull that growth lever.
“So I’m still a little bit ‘jury’s out’ at the moment. I know they’ve got a difficult time to manage through.
“But I would like them to say something that says we understand the value of private business rather than just managing the public sector, which it feels like we’re doing a lot of at the moment.
“And I would like them to say something that says we know the value of what you’re doing. And so that’s what we’re going to help you do more of it in difficult circumstances.”
The boss of Butlin’s also detailed what he would do if he was given the keys to Number 10 for a day.
He said: “Let’s start recognising [hospitality] for it being the third biggest employer in the UK and the place where people often start and get their jobs and move forward.
“I understand the government has got a difficult time at the moment from a balancing finance point of view, but it felt like a tax on jobs that we did last year, and we can see it already with the number of people who’ve come out of hospitality. I think that’s disappointing.
“I’d like to be able to tell people the truth about the fact that we’ve got to make tough decisions.
“We’ve got a demography that says we can’t just have fewer and fewer people paying tax and rents.
“We need to manage things differently, make better choices than we have been doing and I don’t think we’ve specifically told people the truth on that.
“So if I was there for a day, I’d like to have a day of truth telling.”