The campaign voicing fury at Rachel Reeves’ tax hikes is gathering further steam.
Labour MPs are banned from thousands of pubs (Image: Getty)
More than 1,000 pubs have now banned Labour MPs from being served, as part of a mass protest against tax hikes threatening their survival. These now include three of Rachel Reeves’s own local pubs, who have said they will refuse her entry over the Christmas period.
Dorset publican Andy Lennox, who is organising the campaign, said that if a Labour MP attempted to buy a pint from him he would demand they “go back and don’t come” in. He blasted: “We’ve done enough talking. We’ve had letters hand-delivered to the chancellor. We’ve told the chancellor what we need. We need an emergency VAT cut to 13 per cent now. Until that happens, this is going to get bigger and bigger and bigger. The vast majority of everybody I know is either going bust, struggling, or on their last leg”.
Rachel Reeves has been banned from 3 local pubs (Image: Getty)
Jeremy Clarkson joined the campaign last week, barring entrance for any Labour MPs from his famous Farmer’s Dog establishment in the Cotswolds.
He posted: “To be clear, I have banned all Labour MPs from my pub, except one: Markus Campbell-Savours. He’s welcome any time. And not just because the Labour Party has now sacked him.”
Mr Campbell-Savours lost the Labour whip last week for rebelling against Rachel Reeves’s Family Farms Tax.
Pubs are facing an onslaught of costs, from the rises in minimum wage, VAT, alcohol duty and the latest eye-watering business rates reevaluation.
From April 2026, retail, hospitality and leisure relief will be replaced with two lower business rate multipliers for properties with rateable values below £500,000.
The lower tax rates will be funded by a higher multiplier applied to all properties with a rateable value of £500,000 or above.
Jeremy Clarkson has banned all Labour MPs from his pub (Image: Getty)
Many businesses have seen their tax bill skyrocket by tens of thousands of pounds since the rate changes were announced.
Labour MP Tom Hayes posted a video on social media condemning his local boozer’s ban on his entry, accusing them of “undermining the inclusive culture that business owners locally have helped to nourish.
“My job has just got a million times harder because I can’t go and bang the drum for businesses with the chancellor if I can’t speak to business owners because they’re banning me from doing so.”
A Treasury spokesman said: “We’re protecting pubs, restaurants and cafés with the budget’s £4.3 billion support package. Without this support, pubs would face a 45 per cent increase in the total bills they pay next year. Because of the support we’ve put in place, we’ve got that down to just 4 per cent. This comes on top of our efforts to ease licensing to help more venues offer pavement drinks and put on one-off events, maintaining our cut to alcohol duty on draught pints, and capping corporation tax.”
