Farage pledges to rescue Britain’s pubs by slashing the cost of a pint and axing hated tax
Imagine a world where your local pub thrives, not just survives. Nigel Farage’s bold plan could be the lifeline Britain’s pubs desperately need.
Pint prices could fall by 5p under a multi-billion pound lifeline (Image: Getty)
Pint prices could fall by 5p under a multi-billion pound lifeline Nigel Farage will throw to Britain’s embattled pubs when he unveils his rescue package on Tuesday.
Beer duty would be slashed by a tenth under Reform’s five-point plan – though whether drinkers actually see cheaper prices depends on landlords passing the cut through their tills.
Every pub in the country would eventually pay zero business rates under Reform’s flagship commitment – a gradual phase-out spread across a full parliamentary term should the party win power.
Bringing back the two-child benefits cap would foot the bill for the entire operation, with costs rising from £2.29bn in the first twelve months to £2.9bn by the fourth year.
Less than seven days have passed since Rachel Reeves reversed course on her Budget’s business rates assault on pubs, offering instead a temporary 15 per cent discount.
Pub owners have branded the Chancellor’s intervention woefully inadequate to stem the tide of closures.
‘Loss of tradition dating back to Roman rule’
Reform MP Lee Anderson will flesh out his party’s full plan on Tuesday, claiming Reform can “end the pubs crisis.”
He said: “The loss of one pub is not just the loss of livelihood for a landlord, or the loss of a local employment hub. The loss of one pub is a loss to all of us as inheritors of a tradition dating back to Roman rule.”
He added: “Yet the Conservatives, and now Labour, have facilitated the closure of thousands of pubs over the last decade. Any contrition they show is false.”
Current beer duty stands at 49p – Reform would lop 10 per cent off that figure. The 20 per cent VAT rate hammering the entire hospitality sector would be halved.
Supermarkets dodge VAT on food sales – alcohol excepted – while pubs enjoy no such exemption, creating what Reform calls an unfair advantage that its VAT changes would begin correcting toward “tax equality” for hospitality.
Ms Reeves’ October Budget imposed a 76 per cent business rates hike on pubs, loading the typical establishment with £12,900 in additional costs over three years once the current freeze expires.
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‘Free publicans from tied contracts’
High street pubs would be first in line under Reform’s gradual business rates elimination, with coverage expanding each year until 2029-30 when every pub would be covered.
Last April saw employers’ National Insurance climb from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent under Rachel Reeves – hospitality would be exempt from that increase under Reform’s blueprint. The industry calculates that change dumped £1bn in extra wage costs onto the sector.
Legislation currently favouring large pub company ownership is “outdated” and needs liberalizing to create space for more local ownership, Reform’s fifth measure pledges.
Half of the UK’s 47,000 pubs belong to major corporations under today’s setup – an arrangement that locks landlords into contracts offering little flexibility, Reform contends. A standard 11-gallon beer keg can cost tied publicans 80 per cent more than publicans who can buy wherever they choose.
The party stated: “Reform will liberalise this outdated legislation to enable publicans to earn a sustainable living, free of tied contracts.”
By 2030, the VAT reduction would carry a £1.9bn annual cost according to Reform’s calculations, while the NI exemption would run £100m and beer duty cuts £400m. Eliminating business rates would add £580m by 2029/30.
Roughly 510,000 families benefit from Labour’s decision to remove the two-child cap.
