𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Somewhere in Britain this morning, be it Whitby, Bournemouth or Weymouth, a woman is unlocking the door to a guesthouse her parents bought 40 years ago. She was up at the crack of dawn to clean it herself, keeping her family’s business alive, since she cannot afford to hire cleaners anymore.

She made it through the pandemic, struggled through the historically high energy prices that followed, and this April received an eye-watering business rates bill likely to be twice what she paid before. Now, Labour wants to put a tax on every single one of her guests, who are likely people that have worked hard throughout the year to afford a short seaside holiday.

That is exactly what Andy Burnham’s tourist tax is, and worst of all, there is no limit on it. Ten Labour mayors have said that they would cap it at 5% but excuse me if I don’t take their word for it.

Parents look to be hit hardest, because the tax is set not as a fixed fee or a few pounds as in most countries, but as a percentage of the room price.

That means that those who can only get away in the school holidays pay the highest price.

Labour ministers spent a year lecturing concert ticket sellers about the evils of dynamic pricing.

They said charging people more because demand is high was a rip-off and that something had to be done. Well, rather hypocritically, they’ve now taken surge pricing and baked it into the tax system.

Ministers were happy to haul ticketing bosses in to explain themselves, but who do business owners up and down the country get to haul in?

Businesses have been begging the Government to stop attacking them ever since Rachel Reeves’ first budget.

Now, looking ahead to John Healey’s first budget, will we see anything to deter a Labour Party, hell-bent in its ideological tax crusade? No, and we all know why.

Labour needs the money, because the welfare bill is out of control and they are too afraid of their backbenchers to reform it.

Instead they never stop looking for new people to tax, even if that means going after a family-run guest house at the seaside.

As Chancellor, I would cut the welfare bill, cut taxes, and abolish business rates for thousands of the pubs, hotels, and high street shops that Labour only ever see as a cash cow.