'Not Welcome!': Labour's Clash with Pubs Promises a Upcoming Year Headache.

Labour MPs heading back to their constituencies this weekend might experience a wave of respite as a chaotic parliamentary session ends. However, for those looking to visit their community tavern for a relaxing beer, goodwill could be lacking. In fact, some may realize they are unwelcome inside.

For weeks, businesses nationwide have been posting signs that declare "No Labour MPs" in demonstration to adjustments in business rates unveiled by the Finance Minister, Rachel Reeves, in her latest budget.

This movement translates to one fewer retreat for many elected officials seeking refuge from the harsh truth of their party's unpopularity. Representatives now say frequent hostility in public spaces after a difficult first year and a half that has seen the approval numbers fall from around a third to roughly 18%.

"It is difficult being the MP of the constituency you have forever lived in," remarked one. "Our neighborhood bar is where we would go with the kids and just be a normal family. But the past occasions we've just ended up being confronted by other drinkers. Now I'm not even sure we'll be able to get in."

This sense of dismay is visible in a recent video by Tom Hayes, the Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East, addressing being banned from one of his regular haunts, the Larderhouse.

"It's the Christmas season," he noted. "Yet the Larderhouse and other establishments with a 'MPs Not Welcome' notice in the window, they are undermining the community spirit that publicans have helped to foster." He continued, "We need to remove politics off the main street full stop, but especially at Christmas."

A Cornerstone in the National Identity

After a difficult few years marked by rising expenses, the COVID-19 crisis, and changing habits, publicans were optimistic the chancellor's statement might bring some assistance—namely through a overdue reform of the business rates system.

But the chancellor poured cold water on those expectations, leaving the system unreformed and choosing instead to lower the multiplier and pledge £4.3bn over three years in funding for the retail and hospitality sectors.

While perhaps a positive step, the benefit of that support package has been minimized by the effect of a three-yearly property revaluation, which has caused the valuation of hospitality venues to spike from their Covid-affected lows.

From next April, business taxes are set to rise by 115% for the typical hotel and 76% for a pub, versus just 4% for big grocery chains and 7% for logistics centres. A major hospitality group, which operates multiple brands, says it will face an additional tax bill of between £40m and £50m as a consequence.

Joe Butler, the landlord at the Tollemache Arms in Northamptonshire, said: "Virtually instantly, the valuation of our business has increased twofold. That's going to be a huge increase for us."

This pressure on business owners is directly passed on to the price of a punter's pint.

"The cost of a drink is now unaffordable. When we first started here 10 years ago, we charged £3.40 a pint. We're now nearly £7 a pint," Butler stated.

Simultaneously, Covid-era tax reliefs are ending, while hospitality operators are still absorbing rises in national insurance and the minimum wage from the previous budget.

"If you wanted to write the worst possible financial plan for pubs and consumers, you would have come close to what was announced," said Ash Corbett-Collins, the chair of Camra, the consumer organisation.

A number within the Labour party feel this is a battle they could have sidestepped, not least because of the important role the neighborhood inn holds in society.

Richard Quigley, the Labour MP for the Isle of Wight West, who also operates a fish and chip shop on the island, argued: "We said for two years to pubs and hospitality businesses that we are going to provide support but then they get affected by this new assessment. We cannot allow taxes being reduced for big corporations but up for independent businesses."

Observers note that Keir Starmer himself has often been a frequent patron at his local pub, the Pineapple in north London, and often references their significance to local communities. "There is little we prefer than going to the local for a drink, myself included," the prime minister stated in February.

However pollsters compare confronting pub owners to taking on NHS workers in terms of political risk.

Joe Twyman, co-founder of the polling firm Deltapoll, said: "In fiction and in fact, pubs have a cherished status in the public imagination.

"In the public's view the local pub is regarded as an key pillar of the community, even if a good proportion of those same people will rarely actually drink there.

"The danger for politicians with antagonising pubs is that your critics will easily be able to accuse you of attacking the foundation of this country and its heritage, particularly in the countryside. And they will be able to produce many heartfelt examples to prove their point."

'Not a Personal Vendetta'

One such example is Andy Lennox, the publican at the Old Thatch pub in Wimborne, Dorset, and the organiser of the "MPs Barred" campaign. Lennox reports he has provided notices to nearly 1,000 establishments and is dispatching 100 more every day.

His action has been backed by several well-known figures, including television presenter Jeremy Clarkson, who owns a pub called the Farmer's Dog, and singer Rick Astley, who part-owns a brewpub in north London—although the latter has said he will not refuse service to Labour MPs.

"We have pleaded for help for a very long time," explained Lennox, who is demanding a short-term VAT reduction. "Ministers is dressing this up as a support measure but that's not what people are experiencing, and that is the thing that has frustrated so many people."

Several within the industry feel a protest singling out individual Labour MPs is could be counterproductive. "I'm not sure it's a effective strategy to ban the precise representatives we should be trying to engage with and lobby," commented Corbett-Collins.

When pressed this week, the government department highlighted the assistance being offered to hospitality. "We're protecting pubs, restaurants and cafes with the budget's £4.3bn funding. This follows our initiatives to ease licensing, keeping our cut to alcohol duty on beer from the tap, and limiting corporation tax," a representative stated.

The publicans, however, are in no mood to compromise, even if alienating MPs