Budget 2025: Our response

Additional cost and tax increases are putting further pressure on businesses and reducing job opportunities, particularly for young people.

This is all, ultimately, passed through to consumers and, as the Office for Budget Responsibility notes, is keeping inflation higher for longer.

UKHospitality said hospitality and the high street has once again been disproportionately hit, risking the creation of a ‘two-tier economy’.

Kate Nicholls, Chair of UKHospitality, said: “Wage rises, holiday taxes and monumental increases in rateable values have put even further pressure on hospitality businesses, as a result of this Budget.

“A 5p business rates discount is simply not enough to offset these costs and redress the damage it will do to business viability and job opportunities.

“This is exactly why we called for the Government to use the maximum possible discount it had the power to implement, which could have genuinely delivered lower business rates.

“Instead, we have a situation where hospitality businesses are checking their wage bills and rateable values, and their hearts are sinking at the eye-watering increases before them.

“Once again, the Government is trying to balance the books disproportionately on the backs of the high street – and risks creating a two-tier economy.

“Our tax burden remains the highest in the economy and we need urgent action to reduce the cost of doing business. The only way to cut the cost of living is to reduce the cost of doing business, and this Budget does the opposite.”