Labour’s first six months have been catastrophic – and it’s only going to get worse

Labour’s first six months in office has been catastrophic for the UK economy.

Having inherited an economy firmly on the up, one that was growing faster than any other member of the G7, it now seems the UK’s economic outlook has taken a rapid turn for the worse.

This will have catastrophic consequences for hardworking families up and down the country. Yesterday, the rate of interest the UK pays on its debt hit its highest point in 27 years.

In practice, this could have terrifying consequences for all of us. It could force up , putting more pressure on mortgages and take more money out of the pockets of millions of Britons. The knock-on impacts of this are disastrous.

This means that it will ramp up pressure on the Chancellor to either raise taxes further or implement spending cuts to meet her own fiscal rules.

Given the huge burdens Rachel Reeves has put on businesses, family farms and household finances, she will be racking her brains as to who she can tax while taking the least political flak.

That’s’ why I fear the UK’s hospitality and tourism sector could be in the firing line. There are already dark clouds already hanging over these sectors. The combined pressures of higher operating costs like higher National Insurance contributions and Government-imposed over-regulation and red tape are hampering a sector that is the very foundation of the British economy.

Let’s not forget that these sectors employ millions of people, often in convenient and flexible part-time work, that are the lifeblood of local economies. Whether it’s the student earning that bit of extra money to help them at university pouring pints in the pub or the mother working around childcare commitments in a local hotel to make ends meet, if the Government allows these sectors to collapse, thousands of people will be left without jobs they rely on.

As the Chair of UKHospitality Kate Nichols said: “It would be a huge mistake for the Chancellor to balance the books on the backs of our high streets and hospitality businesses.”

“Workers in areas like the hospitality sector are essential cogs in local economies right across the country.”

“With the lowering of the threshold for National Insurance contributions already crippling these businesses, the Chancellor must not introduce any more regressive taxes on businesses that provide essential work to millions of people up and down Britain.”

I am clear that these sectors can’t take even further punishment from the Chancellor when she next comes to raise taxes.With business confidence dangerously low as it is, the consequences of adding even more pressures on these sectors doesn’t bear thinking about.

It would lead to job losses, exacerbate the decline of our towns and high streets and have a terrible impact on economic growth in our local economies.

But this harrowing prospect is becoming more and more unlikely because Labour simply don’t understand the importance of the tourism and hospitality sectors.

With Labour’s growth forecasts – which were supposed to be the centrepiece of Starmer and Reeves’ plan for change – looking bleaker and bleaker, I fear the worst is yet to come.

Copy this with higher inflation since July, which will pile further pressures on households, less people will have disposable income available to head out to their local pub or restaurant or spend a weekend away.

With the impact of Labour’s Budget of Broken Promises pushing up the cost of Government borrowing to the highest level since 1998, the Chancellor is going to have to make some very difficult decisions in the near-future.

But the warnings have been sounded about the terrible cost any tax raid on the hospitality and tourism sectors could have.Starmer’s cabinet is full of Westminster-careerists who have no understanding of how these businesses work.

That is why only the Conservatives can stand up for hospitality and tourism in the United Kingdom. So let me say this loud and clear. Rachel Reeves must not balance the books on the backs of the hospitality and tourism businesses across the country.