Rachel Reeves ‘has no interest in hospitality’ after ‘reckless’ taxes
Chancellor Rachel Reeves “has no interest in hospitality”, according to nighttime adviser Sacha Lord, who also branded her National Insurance increases in last year’s Autumn Budget “both reckless and short sighted”.
Lord, who is a member of the Labour Party, said the 2024 Budget was a “disaster for hospitality” which resulted “in many closures and causing over 110,00 job losses; more than any other sector”.
He added that he also doesn’t “have faith in the current leadership, who has recently shown a lack of both judgement and loyalty” and that “the cabinet is now again far too London centric”.
The comments come after Lord told Chancellor Rachel Reeves in February that she needed to take urgent action to prevent the collapse of thousands of hospitality businesses across the UK.
In an open letter Sacha Lord, who was previously Andy Burnham’s night time economy adviser for Greater Manchester, said he no longer considers Labour to be the party of “business and growth”.
At the time, Lord added that he is also reconsidering his membership of the Labour Party and called on the Chancellor to “outline a clear plan” to support the hospitality sector “before it is too late”.
‘A fish rots from the head’
In a new post on X, Lord said: “Since joining the Labour Party, this will be the first conference that I’ll be missing.
“I joined on the back of several meetings with the then shadow cabinet, who promised me a vision as the party of both business and growth.
“This was then reiterated at their manifesto launch in 2024. This simply isn’t the case.
“The last Budget was a disaster for hospitality, resulting in many closures and causing over 110,00 job losses; more than any other sector.
“I don’t have faith in the current leadership, who has recently shown a lack of both judgement and loyalty.
“The cabinet is now again far too London centric, having promised more power to the regions, which now seems just shallow words.
“I have been invited to speak at both the Lib Dems and Tory conferences, both who are keen to engage and work with the suffering sector, something which Labour is failing to do.
“It’s apparent the current Chancellor has no interest in hospitality, the UK’s fifth biggest sector. Her National Insurance increase was both reckless and short sighted.
“Sadly, I predict that many good, hard working Labour Councillors, will lose their jobs in May, purely from poor decisions being made from the top.
“Decisions that to me, don’t represent Labour Party values. A fish rots from the head.”