Pub industry warns Boris Johnson that lockdown measures put ‘hundreds and thousands of jobs’ at risk
The UK pub industry has tonight written to Prime Minister Boris Johnson warning him that the government’s guidance that members of the public should avoid going to bars and pubs presents the sector with an “existential crisis”.
In a letter from British Beer and Pub Association chief executive Emma McClarkin, the industry warned that “thousands of pubs and hundreds of thousands of jobs will be lost in the very short term” unless the government bails it out.
Calling the government’s advice “unhelpful in the extreme”, McClarkin added that the failure to set out a financial commitment was “creating panic with people being fearful that their livelihoods will be destroyed”:
“Forced pub closures without a meaningful support package will have a catastrophic financial and social impact”, she added.
With last week’s Budget announcements regarding reduced business rates for pubs and small businesses now “irrelevant”, the letter sets out a number of steps the government should now take to protect the industry.
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First of these is a call to cancel all business rates and HMRC tax payments, including VAT and corporation tax, for six months for all pubs and hospitality businesses.
Next up is a demand to cancel beer duty payments for the same period, as well as a plea to urge banks to extend credit lines and loan payment holidays.
It also asked the government to mimic Denmark’s temporary redundancy scheme and support 75 per cent of the wages of those made redundant for a set period.
Finally, it called for the government to delay its plans to increase the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage from April to ease cash-flow pressures.
The letter concludes that failure to act now “will destroy the industry”.