Jamie Oliver has launched a scathing attack on the government’s tax treatment of British businesses, warning that ministers are “hitting” the very people who run the country’s tourism sector and risk turning Britain into an economic powerhouse.
Speaking to Times Radio, the celebrity chef said the cumulative weight of recent financial measures is hampering the health of young workers and will, in the short term, make the UK “less important, less effective and less relevant” as a place of prestige and business.
“If you just hit the businessmen, you won’t get anything,” said Oliver. “There is a lack of understanding of the chemistry of what a happy, growing, hopeful, ambitious and cool country called Britain looks like.”
His intervention comes at a critical time for the tourist trade, which has spent the past year experiencing punitive cost increases. Higher employers’ national insurance contributions, coupled with major reductions in deductibles, have hit drivers hard on wages. Add to that the successive increases in the national minimum wage and the high burden of business standards, and the boundaries of independent cafes, sandwich shops and neighborhood restaurants have been completely removed.
Oliver argued that without sound incentives for risk-taking, Britain would lose its reputation as a key to new products and ideas. “There needs to be enough oil in the game for people to take risks, and to associate themselves with risk and then there are new ways to innovate and products … that can be scaled up and grown,” he said.
However, his sharpest criticism was reserved for what he described as an inefficient tax regime. He said the system does not make a visible difference between the chains from various countries and the existing store. “What’s interesting is the tax system and the government sees no difference between, say, Domino’s or Starbucks and Linda and Paul down the street with a small independent sandwich shop.” Young workers, he added, are being “pulled out”.
Oliver knows the sharp end of trading better than most. His Italian-themed restaurant fell into administration in 2019, and only at the end of last year did he begin to revive the Jamie Italian brand in collaboration with Brava Hospitality Group, owner of Prezzo.
You are far from speech. Earlier this month John Vincent, founder of health food store Leon, accused ministers of “totally killing the restaurant industry”. Vincent, who bought Leon last year from Asda before closing 22 sites as part of a restructuring, has emerged as one of the industry’s most vocal critics, arguing that the tax burden on restaurants is no longer sustainable.
When Leon applied for management, he told the BBC the figures spoke for themselves: “Today, for every pound we get from a customer, about 36p goes to the government in tax, and about 2p ends up in the hands of the company. That’s why most players are reporting huge losses.”
In an industry that has long served as the first tier of business, and a generous employer of young, low-skilled and part-time workers, the warning from the two most senior figures could be even more dire. Unless the Treasury finds a way to differentiate between the corporate behemoths and the family-run private ones, Oliver’s decision suggests, Britain’s hospitality landscape will become poorer, more impatient and less ambitious.
