CEO, @ukhofficial. Business strategy, economic development, International trade & FDI. Ex London & Partners, London Stock Exchange and Barclays.
Maidstone and London
Joined December 2011
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Is now the right time for an extra hundred quid in tax on your family holiday?
No, it’s not.
👇 Go to the website below to use our calculator to find out how much more your holiday will cost.
And then use the tools to tweet about it and write to your MP.
A proposed holiday tax could impact hospitality, jobs and local communities.
Write to your MP to join our call to scrap the unfair holiday tax: 👉 stoptheholidaytax.uk/
#Stoptheholidaytax
A tax isn’t free just because it’s levied locally.
The holiday tax will cost 33,000 people their jobs. That’s equivalent to the total UK employment base of Jaguar Land Rover.
“Local mayors are going to pull that lever until it snaps.”
@Allen_m_Simpson, our Chief Executive, spoke to @BBCRadio4 about the danger of giving local mayors an uncapped tax-raising power to implement a holiday tax.
Precisely the impact we think a VAT cut would have here.
Ireland sees hospitality insolvencies down a quarter since their VAT cut.
@UKHofficial
irishtimes.com/business/2026…,
The holiday tax is politically disastrous.
The three Welsh councils who consulted on it over the summer were taken aback by the level of opposition and have stopped.
Every mayor that introduces it will find the same thing I suspect.
“It’s absolute tissue rejection.”
Hear @Allen_m_Simpson, our Chief Exec, speak to @GBNews about how unpopular the holiday tax is among the public.
This was why an alignment model of Brexit was unsustainable.
Not that we would change. That europe would.
Andrew Neil’s Brexit reality check on BBC Question Time.
In a nutshell:
Rejoiners are ignoring the huge political wind of change sweeping Europe and the UK v Germany/ France/ Italy growth rates make a nonsense of their Mickey Mouse economic arguments too.
#bbcqt
We are at this point for several sectors.
Hospitality is looking at the point where growth is crippled in the rear view mirror.
The UK is "very close" to a point where taxes will "cripple growth" in the economy, tech entrepreneur Euan Blair tells @CathyNewman
There is "genuine fear" among businesses that the UK will reach this point, Blair says.
trib.al/Rx0iR33
📺 Sky 501
Allen Simpson retweeted
‘Labour’s war on hospitality is about to land on your holiday bill’
✍️ Benjamin Elks for LBC Opinion lbc.co.uk/article/labour-war…
👋 @AlexBallingerMP
You say you’ve had no letters about this. I checked our wwww.stoptheholidaytax.uk site & at least 103 constituents have written to you to oppose it.
Let’s be generous and say you also had some in favour. So…150 maybe?
Might be worth checking your filters…
‘No one’s written to me to say it’s a bad idea.’
‘I’ll write to you first thing, because this is a bad idea.’
@DrLukeEvans and London business representative Ros Morgan aren’t satisfied by @AlexBallingerMP’s tourist tax justifications.
@IainDale
Sharing this from Mike and the @ntiaofficial for night time types looking ahead to Christmas👇
The Golden Quarter is make-or-break for nightlife trading. Are you ready to maximise it?
The final quarter of the year carries huge trading weight for night-time economy businesses, with Halloween, Christmas and New Year’s Eve presenting major opportunities, but competition for consumer spend is tougher than ever.
Join us for the next NTIA NTE Round-Up: The Golden Quarter Playbook – Maximising Revenue for NTE Businesses.
📅 Monday 12 October
⏰ 4pm BST
💻 Online | FREE to attend
We’ll be bringing together sector experts to explore:
*What’s actually driving revenue this Golden Quarter?
*How venues are rethinking Halloween, Christmas & NYE offers
*Pricing, packaging and event strategies that are delivering results
*Operational and policy pressures that could impact Q4 trading
This is about sharing practical ideas and insight to help businesses make the most of the most important trading period of the year.
Bring your questions, we’ll be putting the best of them to the panel live.
Can’t join us live? Register anyway and we’ll send you the recording.
Secure your FREE place via the link: buff.ly/GRSuuHj
Watch.
I’m sure @AlexBallingerMP is a decent man.
But he’s wrong on a basic fact about the policy he’s justifying - not because it’s complicated. Because he didn’t check.
That’s what defines the holiday tax debate. The Government haven’t made any attempt to check their facts.
‘No one’s written to me to say it’s a bad idea.’
‘I’ll write to you first thing, because this is a bad idea.’
@DrLukeEvans and London business representative Ros Morgan aren’t satisfied by @AlexBallingerMP’s tourist tax justifications.
@IainDale
Reading the data today on falling jobs, falling vacancies, but flat unemployment.
And rising public sector roles and wages against far flatter private.
A state that keeps growing, taxes up to pay for it, jobs in the private sector down as a result.
Where does it end?
This is the solution.
The tax on hospitality is just too high. Higher than other countries, higher than the wider economy.
It’s got so much worse in the past two years. It’s got worse again with the holiday tax.
Just cut VAT.
Www.vatstheproblem.co.uk
Dominic (I’m biased, he’s a board member) is a very decent and smart chap.
And he’s battling to keep a FTSE100 employer able to keep offering jobs and careers in the face of what feels like endless attack from government.
He’s right in this piece👇
Premier Inn owner: ‘Tourist tax’ could stop us opening new hotels thetimes.com/business/compan…
Allen Simpson retweeted
🍽️ UKHospitality is urging Labour mayors to back a 10% VAT rate for hospitality before introducing any overnight visitor levy.
The trade body argues that hotels, pubs, restaurants and other hospitality businesses are already facing significant cost pressures — and that reducing VAT would give the sector breathing space, support jobs and strengthen local economies.
Its message to Labour mayors is clear: back hospitality first, then consider new local levies.
Read more 👇
labourhome.co.uk/ukhospitali…
@allen_m_simpson @UKHofficial @UKHospKate
This is the issue though.
The people who pay it won’t be voting. A tax where there’s no incentive to be restrained.
Change like - for example - not raising the tax on a massive amount of hospitality to 27%.
An incredibly important interview with Alan Milburn in @thetimes today. Business as usual is not good enough to deal with NEETS. We need wholesale change.
thetimes.com/uk/politics/art…
Thank you Andrew, and thanks for having me on your radio show to discuss it.
All very silly as an idea.
Our letter to the mayors.
You say a holiday tax is normal? Ok, so is 10% VAT.
👇
Labour mayors urged to back VAT cut for struggling pubs and restaurants as a condition of imposing holiday tax as backlash grows over cost to families trib.al/9vIaZ13
I think I’m the rep in question, and I’ll be honest I shook my head too.
