Next prime minister Liz Truss urged to act fast to prevent 'thousands' of hospitality closures

The hospitality industry has urged the country's next prime minister Liz Truss to act ‘quickly and decisively’ to save the sector from collapse in the face of rising costs.

Truss was elected leader of the Conservative party today (5 September) with 81,326 votes from Conservative party members, while Rishi Sunak received 60,399 votes.

In her inaugural speech, Truss promised to tackle rising energy bills. She said: “We need to show that we will deliver over the next two years. I will deliver a bold plan to cut taxes and grow our economy. I will deliver on the energy crisis, dealing with people’s energy bills but also the long-term issues we have on energy supply.”

The government has been warned that hospitality faces “widespread business failures” with tens of thousands of job losses unless it steps in to tackle energy costs.

Hospitality trade bodies today called for support measures including a cut in VAT, a business rates holiday, the deferral of all environmental levies, the reinstatement of a HMRC Time to Pay scheme and the reintroduction of a trade credit insurance scheme for energy to help operators.

UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls said: “Pre-pandemic, our industry spent £10bn a year in high-street regeneration and employed 3.2m people but with energy bills for hospitality businesses rising 300% on average – and as high as 750% in some cases – we desperately need a package of support put in place if we are to be able to play our part in the UK’s economic recovery and growth.”

Michael Kill, chief executive of the Night Time Industries Association, called for the introduction of an energy cap for small and medium-sized businesses.

He said: “It would be hard to disguise the frustration and anxiety experienced across the industry, as we have had to patiently watch the leadership campaigns play out over the last four weeks.

“Over the coming weeks without an effective intervention from the Government, we will see thousands of businesses go to the wall and millions of jobs lost.”

The Scottish Tourism Alliance called on the UK and Scottish government to hold talks to “avert the collapse” of the hospitality and tourism sectors.

The chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA), Nik Antona, also urged Truss to act fast to avoid many pubs closing for good.

He added: “If pubs increased prices for consumers at the same rate as their energy bills, we would be paying £15 or £20 per pint at the bar – which obviously isn’t viable. Without help reaching them quickly many businesses that survived the pandemic will be forced to close their doors for good with devastating consequences for communities up and down the country.”

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