'TOO LATE!' | Andy Burnham's 'PITIFUL' attempt to save Britain's pubs torn apart by Tory Minister

Let's start with that breaking news. Coming at the number 10 this morning, Andy Burnham says he's going to cut business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues. Yes, they're going to receive a 20% reduction in their business rates, which translates to an average saving of around £1,100 a year. Well, the move is, we expect, going to be welcomed by the hospitality industry, which has faced rising costs, of course, over recent years. But there is a very big question. How do you pay for it all? We're joined now by our national reporter, Will Godley. Will, it's the million-dollar question. It certainly is, yeah, or the hundred-million-dollar question. That's what this is forecast to cost, this measure, every single year. Good morning to both of you. But, of course, something I'm sure pubs will be welcoming, they've been calling for a cut to business rates for the last couple of years now. And publicans, landlords I've been speaking to during that time, are desperate for some sort of help. £1,100, I'm sure, welcome, not going to change anyone's life, but still will go some way to helping them out with the cost of living and increasing cost of doing businesses that they find themselves in. So not just pubs, of course, welcoming this change or reacting to this change, but this is also going to affect clubs and live music venues as well, also receiving this 20% cut to business rates, applying to nearly 32,000 venues across England, but not the biggest live music venues. The question is, though, as you say, how will they pay for it? Well, the government insisting today that this is fully funded, as they have done the last few days, that hasn't stopped people, though, questioning and poking holes in how they're exactly going to pay for things. And no doubt the same thing will happen today, particularly as the way they've said they're going to pay for this is slightly confusing and not really drilled down into the detail. All they've said is they're going to review the tax release that businesses that do not make a positive contribution to local communities, things like vape shops, they're going to review the release that they get. They're also going to crack down on online marketplaces that do not comply with tax obligations. So they'll be hoping to raise £100 million that way. Whether or not it raises that amount of money, well, we'll have to wait and see. No doubt economists will be looking at that this morning. But Andy Burnham will want to say this is all part of his push for growth in every postcode. That's the message he's going to drill down when he meets the leaders of Scotland and Wales today in Glasgow. But Cammy Badenocht has dubbed his push for growth or his breathing space for cost of living as a spending spree, of course, his third cost of living measure in as many days. Cammy Badenocht is going to outline her response to Andy Burnham's cost of living measures today. She's going to urge him not to raise taxes to pay for this big spending spree that he's going on. She's also going to urge him to utilise the North Sea, drill for oil and gas there in order to push for growth across the country. But while Cammy Badenocht doesn't want any more taxes, 120 millionaires have written to Andy Burnham today urging for him to introduce a wealth tax, among them Gary Lineker. Now, these 120 UK based millionaires are calling for a 2% tax on wealth over £10 million. They also want reforms to capital gains tax, and they say it would raise £36 billion a year. This is part of this Proud to Pay letter. It's from the Patriotic Millionaires UK group, and Gary Lineker writing in this letter said, paying your fair share is a basic British value, but so many ordinary people are already paying more than they can afford. Our richest people can do more and most want to do more. So they're urging Andy Burnham to go for a wealth tax, so something that will be incredibly controversial, and I'm sure something he won't want to talk about until that budget he's going to have to deliver later on this year. For now, though, it seems he's wanting to cut taxes on things like electricity bills for people, families at home, and also for pubs, live music venues. This business rates relief he's announced today, a 20% tax cut there, something no doubt many pubs will be welcoming, especially after they've been calling for support for so long. Okay, Will, thanks very much indeed. You've worked hard for your money, so why does it feel like your pounds are constantly losing value? 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So if you're tired of your savings not keeping up with the cost of living, and you'd rather own something real, take a look at Tally Money. To find out more and to get an exclusive GB News offer, simply scan the QR code or click the link in the description. Let's talk to Rod Humphries, who's landlord at The Raven in Bath. Good to see you this morning, Rod. So you've got a reduction in VAT on your energy bills, and you've got a 20% reduction in your business rates. What's that going to mean to you? It will help. The truth is, this is welcome. It's not enough, necessarily, if things go bad. Because, you know, we're all subject to the economy. If my customers don't have enough discretionary spending money, then we'll still be in trouble. But I also like it because it's a measure which seems to favour small businesses over big businesses, which is unusual. But yeah, fundamentally, thank you, Andy. I'll take it. What support would you like to see? What do you think would guarantee the success and the survival of the Great British Pub? The things I would kill for are either reduction or removal of the minimum wage, so that I can start young people and train them before I'm forced to pay them any given amount, and a massive reduction in NIC. That would be employment-related costs. Forcing us to pay pensions and employment taxes mean that – because you can't serve beer without stuff. You just can't. So usually our biggest bills are our staff. And every year, since I've been trading 20 years, it keeps going up. At some point, can we please wind it back a bit? I mean, it's interesting. Whether they'd ever go for that, it's hard to say, isn't it? But I mean, you talked about the fact that this is a help, but it's dependent on what money your customers have got to spend. We are also hearing that there's going to be an unfreezing of the tax-free allowance, which would mean that a lot of people will have more money in their pocket. So when you tie all of these things together… It might help. And my feeling is, obviously, one of the things I'm proud about at the Raven, we have a very wide demographic. So I have people from the trades who, up to this point, have generally done pretty well, but obviously quite a lot of white-collar customers too. And generally speaking, these are the people you're talking about. They're really struggling. The amount of tax on our middle classes is actually very, very high. You've generally got two people working very hard just to have a house, raise the children, and therefore their opportunity to go out for a family meal, things like that, is very tight. Do you fear that perhaps this is too little too late for some pubs in this country? We know that the industry has been on its knees for a very long time. We all know that the whole landscape's been changing and it's become a fight to survive. And that's for many reasons. Some of them are cultural. I'm old enough to come from a generation where we would normally go for a beer after work. It still happens on Friday to a degree, but it's largely gone. The whole landscape in that sense has changed. And the vibrancy of our city centres. Bath is not too bad, but the feeling of it has got so much more controlled. So, for example, I used to be in favour of things like pedestrianisation. I was completely wrong. We need to get out of the way of people coming into our city centres. We need vastly fewer rules. We need much more freedom for small traders to open shops. So one thing that our councils could, and I don't know if this rate reduction will help with, is we need, for example, to start a business in the city centre is a massive cost, both in terms of bureaucracy and capital. If we can do things like get out of the way of that and let small businesses take risks and then tax them when they succeed, rather than forcing them to pay up front, we could perhaps get some life into our city centres, which would help everybody. Oh, that's a really good point, Rob. Good to talk to you this morning. Well, we're joined now by Shadow Minister for Policing and Crime, Matt Vickers. Very good morning to you, Mr Vickers. Good to see you again. Shall we start with that breaking news that we've had this morning, the third cost of living announcement in as many days of this new Andy Burnham government, this time 20% cut in business rates for pubs, clubs and live music venues. What's your reaction to that? And do you think it's enough to save the great British pub? This is the third unfunded spending commitment in three days. The first one was going to be paid for. Do you remember the first one? Day one, he told us he was going to fund that using net zero, basically doing away with costs that didn't actually exist. Digital ID, he said the costs that were associated with digital ID, he was going to scrap it and save all the money. It then turned out from the OBR, from the Chief Secretary of the Treasury, that that budget never ever existed. Yesterday, the Transport Secretary was asked several times to look at how they're going to pay for this £2 cap, no answers. This one, he's going to do a review to find the money. Reviews don't mean money. Reviews mean lots of chit-chat and no answers. When this government came to office, this Labour government, those businesses, all leisure, hospitality and retail businesses, on the high streets, those small businesses, were getting a 75% reduction in their business rates. They've took away the 75% and now he's telling me he's giving them 20% back and he doesn't know how he's going to pay for it. It's pitiful. We need to be realistic in how we support these businesses. Under this Labour government, we've lost about 111,000 jobs in the hospitality sector. The last government created 18,000. This is pitiful. It's a disaster and those businesses are on the front line. Small businesses going to the wall at the fastest rate since the world economic crash. 19% increase in unemployment. This is a disaster and this is back of a fag packet job to come up with a policy that should appeal and should make a difference but it's nowhere near enough. We're offering 100% relief and we've got the figures to back it up on how we would fund that. Yeah, but I mean Kemi Badenoch today will say Andy Burnham's ambitions for Britain are too small yet when he's churning out the little stuff at this stage, the little teasers, you're saying well it hasn't properly costed it, it hasn't properly funded it. He's in week one. It is going to take some time because we know there isn't a proper plan, a proper strategy in place and we can criticise them for that all we like but it is going to take some time to come together isn't it? The reason Starmer's government was a complete and utter mess, the reason it cost businesses, the reason it cost people their jobs, the reason it's had so many damaging effects on the people across this country is because he arrived in office without a plan. This chap's rocked up. He's disappearing on holiday by the sounds of things and he hasn't given us a plan. He hasn't been to that dispatch box. What this country needs now is answers on how we're going to fund defence, how we're going to get that welfare spend under control, how we're going to bring down taxes so that businesses can operate without being sent to the wall by this ridiculous burden in terms of tax and we're not getting any of that. We're getting gimmicks, we're getting back of a fag packet job and the more you scrutinise any single thing that comes out of his mouth, the more it falls apart. This one's going to be paid for by a review. It's just not a thing. We saw the announcement the other day that was going to be funded by a budget that didn't exist in the words of the OBR and in the words of his own chief, the former chief secretary to the treasury. The transport secretary of state yesterday couldn't answer how they're going to fund that two pound bus cab. You can't just make this stuff up. He's in government now. This country needs real solutions to some of the very real problems that we're facing.