News / General Election / Political campaigning

Conservative Manifesto – our response

Throughout the General Election campaign, each political party will launch a manifesto listing its policy commitments. Today [Tuesday 11 June], the Conservative Party launched its manifesto.

What was included?

Of relevance to hospitality, commitments included:

1
Easing the burden of business rates for high street, leisure and hospitality and look to offset this by increasing the tax rate on distribution warehouses that support online shopping.
2
A review into the nighttime economy in England.
3
Maintaining the National Living Wage at 66% of median earnings.

Read our analysis of all the party manifestos, in our election hub.

General Election Manifestos explained

Our response

Kate Nicholls, Chief Executive of UKHospitality, said: “We are delighted to see the Conservative Manifesto commit to delivering UKHospitality’s call to fix the unfair burden of business rates on hospitality businesses.

“Last year in our manifesto we called for total reform of the broken business rates system that sees hospitality businesses pay three times their fair share.

“We need a permanent, lower rate for hospitality that lets businesses invest in high streets, creating places people want to live and work.

“Hospitality is a unique sector in being able to provide jobs for everyone, everywhere, and we’re pleased to see a commitment to fund 100,000 apprenticeships for young people. However, problems with the existing Apprenticeship Levy system need to be fixed first and reform of that levy is a high priority for the sector.

“We are also pleased to see a pledge to review the nighttime economy in order to harness the power of hospitality, which is the beating heart of our vibrant nightlife in this country.

“UKHospitality has clearly set out its policy recommendations for a future government and we will continue to assess pledges in all party manifestos against the needs of the sector.”