Rick Stein Reflects on Childhood and Christmas Gifts
Rick Stein recalls one of his favorite childhood Christmas presents. “One year, I was given a push-pedal car,” he remembers. “I was still tiny, and we were living in the Cotswolds. You sat in the car and pushed the two pedals, and went round and round the sitting room in it. I loved it.” Those simpler times are far from today’s challenges.
Stein’s Views on the Hospitality Industry and Taxation
Now, seven decades later, Stein hopes for a more practical gift—not from Santa, but from Keir Starmer. He advocates for a VAT moratorium to support the struggling hospitality sector. “80,000 jobs have been lost in hospitality this year. Things aren’t going well in our particular part of the industry,” he notes.
Stein tries to maintain a balanced perspective on the situation. “I’m trying to be reasonable about it. I know stuff has to be paid for. What the government is trying to do, I guess, is to increase the tax situation by growth, but doing so by putting National Insurance up just stopped growth.”
He warns that rising taxes lead to job cuts. “If you’re faced with ever-increasing taxes, you’re going to cut back on labour wherever you can. You’re certainly not going to hire people unless you absolutely need to.”
“I appreciate that the country is not in a good state, but it seems to me a complete ‘home goal’ to target parts of the economy that are not well-equipped to deal with it.”
Summary
Rick Stein highlights the toll of tax rises on hospitality jobs and calls for a VAT pause to help the struggling industry recover.
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