'Not Welcome!': The Government's Clash with Local Inns Signals a Fresh Year Problem.

Labour MPs heading back to their home districts this end of the week might breathe a sigh of respite as a chaotic parliamentary session concludes. But, for those hoping to stop by their community tavern for a restorative pint, goodwill could be in short supply. Indeed, some may realize they are unwelcome inside.

In recent weeks, businesses throughout the nation have been putting up signs that declare "No Labour MPs" in protest to adjustments in commercial property taxes announced by the Finance Minister, Rachel Reeves, in her most recent budget.

This movement translates to one fewer escape for many Labour MPs seeking solace from the harsh truth of their public disapproval. Backbenchers now describe regular hostility in community settings after a challenging first period that has seen the approval numbers fall from around a third to roughly 18%.

"It can be hard being the MP of the area you have always lived in," said one. "That pub is where we used to go with the kids and just be a regular family. But the past occasions we've just ended up being confronted by other customers. Now I'm not even sure we'll be able to be served."

This feeling of frustration is evident in a recent video by Tom Hayes, the Member of Parliament for Bournemouth East, lamenting being refused entry to one of his regular haunts, the Larderhouse.

"It's the Christmas season," he noted. "Yet the Larderhouse and other businesses with a 'MPs Not Welcome' sticker in the window, they are damaging the community spirit that business owners have helped to foster." He added, "We need to remove politics off the high street altogether, but particularly at Christmas."

A Cornerstone in the National Identity

After a difficult few years marked by economic pressures, the pandemic, and changing habits, licensees were anticipating the chancellor's statement might bring some assistance—specifically through a overdue revamp of the business rates system.

But the chancellor disappointed those hopes, leaving the system unreformed and choosing instead to lower the multiplier and allocate £4.3bn over three years in funding for the retail and hospitality sectors.

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

Beginning in next April, business taxes are set to increase by more than double for the average hotel and over three-quarters for a public house, compared with just 4% for big grocery chains and 7% for logistics centres. Whitbread, which owns pubs, restaurants and the Premier Inn hotel chain, states it will face an additional tax bill of between £40m and £50m as a outcome.

Joe Butler, the publican at the Tollemache Arms in Northamptonshire, commented: "With the click of a finger, the worth of our business has doubled. That's going to be a huge increase for us."

This financial strain on publicans is certainly passed on to the price of a punter's pint.

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

At the same time, pandemic-related tax discounts are being phased out, while sector businesses are still absorbing increases in employer contributions and the living wage from the previous budget.

"If you tried to design the worst possible budget for the hospitality sector and its customers, you would have come close to what we saw," remarked Ash Corbett-Collins, the chairperson of Camra, the campaign for real ale.

Several within the governing party think this is a battle they ought to have avoided, not least because of the central place the community pub holds in society.

Richard Quigley, the MP for the Isle of Wight West, who also operates a fish and chip shop on the island, argued: "We pledged for two years to the sector that we are going to help you out but then they get slapped with this new assessment. We can't have rates being reduced for big corporations but up for local venues."

Observers point out that Keir Starmer himself has historically been a regular at his local, the Pineapple in north London, and frequently speaks of their value to neighborhoods. "We all enjoy nothing more than going to the local for a pint, myself included," the prime minister said in February.

However strategists liken antagonising publicans to challenging NHS workers in terms of popular sentiment.

Joe Twyman, director of the public opinion consultancy Deltapoll, said: "From soap operas to real life, pubs have a unique position in the national consciousness.

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

"The danger for politicians with alienating pubs is that your political rivals will quickly accuse you of attacking the core of this country and its history, notably in rural areas. And they will be able to produce many powerful examples to drive the message home."

'A Matter of Principle'

One such example is Andy Lennox, the publican at the Old Thatch pub in Wimborne, Dorset, and the coordinator of the "No Labour MPs" campaign. Lennox says he has provided notices to nearly 1,000 premises and is dispatching 100 more every day.

His action has been backed by a number of well-known figures, including broadcaster Jeremy Clarkson, who owns a pub called the Farmer's Dog, and singer Rick Astley, who has a stake in a brewpub in north London—however the latter has clarified he will not formally bar Labour MPs.

"We have been asking for help for a considerable period," said Lennox, who is calling for a temporary VAT reduction. "The Treasury is dressing this up as a helpful policy but that's not what people are experiencing, and that is the thing that has aggrieved so many people."

A number within the hospitality trade feel a protest targeting individual politicians is likely to be counterproductive. "I doubt it's a wise move to ban the exact people we should be trying to engage with and lobby," argued Corbett-Collins.

When questioned this week, the government department spoke of the support being provided to hospitality. "We're protecting pubs, restaurants and cafes with the budget's £4.3bn support package. This is in addition to our efforts to simplify licensing, maintaining our cut to alcohol duty on draught pints, and limiting corporation tax," a representative stated.

The publicans, on the other hand, are in not the frame of mind to compromise, even if alienating MPs