Is this really a Budget for growth, or just another blow to the high street? |
By Stephen Patterson
After a year in which the high street and the hospitality sector have endured the triple tax whammy of rising business rates, increased employer national insurance contributions, and the earlier uplift in the national minimum wage, it is difficult to see how the Government can claim that this budget meaningfully supports growth.
Yes, the Chancellor’s rhetoric talked of “stability” and “renewal” but for the businesses on our high streets, the same businesses expected to lead economic recovery, the reality looks rather different.
For months companies have been wrestling with spiralling energy bills, wage pressures and patchy consumer demand. Inflation may be falling but price sensitivity remains acute across most sectors.
Newcastle saw the shockwave of these combined pressures between January and April with the sudden closure of several prominent hospitality venues.
These were not poorly run businesses they were casualties of a system that keeps loading costs onto operators faster than they can reasonably adapt.
Against this backdrop the decision to increase the national minimum wage by a further 4.1 per cent is a double-edged sword. While no one disputes the importance of fair pay, when wage inflation rises ahead of trading conditions, already thin margins are stretched even further.
For hospitality in particular, a labour-intensive sector still recovering from the........