The challenges are endless and so is our fight

By Colin Neill, Chief Executive, Hospitality Ulster

 Since the announcement of various increases to the cost of doing business announced in last October’s Budget, Hospitality Ulster’s absolute priority has been to rally against the punishing costs being levied on the sector.

We have represented Northern Ireland’s hospitality businesses in meetings with the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and Secretary of State, impressing upon them the damage these cost increases will do to our sector. With these increases having now come into effect since the beginning of April, these efforts have kicked into overdrive.

In early April alone, we met separately with 20 Labour MPs and the Northern Ireland Secretary of State, bringing together over 20 local chambers of commerce and BIDs to ensure a collective voice. As could be expected, we pulled no punches and called out the lack of understanding of the Northern Ireland market in Westminster and the lack of willingness to do anything to support NI hospitality businesses.

The hospitality sector here is being forced to deal with issues that our colleagues in the UK do not have to deal with, and this is something that the UK Government seems to have found difficult to grasp. The unfair business rates in Northern Ireland are hard to stomach; not only do we pay higher poundage than most of the UK, but we also missed out on the support given to businesses in England. We continue to fight for a fairer rates system for all hospitality businesses and will be making that case to our First and deputy First Minister in a meeting in the coming weeks.

Following our successful motion in the NI Assembly, which called on all parties to support a reduced rate of hospitality VAT in Northern Ireland and urged the Finance Minister to lead a joint delegation to meet with the UK Chancellor, we are now engaging with the Department of Finance. With cross-party support gained, we are working to ensure the minister backs the outcome of the motion and moves forward with us in a joint campaign. We have also enlisted the help of UK Hospitality to advocate for Northern Ireland to be used as a pilot to demonstrate the financial return to the Government when hospitality VAT is reduced.

We remain committed to working at pace to represent the sector’s views to Government, collaborating with other industry bodies and stakeholders where appropriate to strengthen our collective voice. One thing is for certain – whether on or own or as part of a collective, we will ensure that hospitality’s position is voiced and will not stop until it is heard.