Do politicians like pubs?

This article was first published in The Critic.

Pubs, pubs, pubs. I love them. You love them. The nation loves them. And so do most politicians, judging by the constant tussle to be branded “the party of pubs”.

Andy Burnham and John Healey have already attempted to demonstrate their credentials by ranking their favourite pub snacks in a social media video. In the clip, the Prime Minister put crisps as number one, whilst the Chancellor plumped for pork scratchings (the sounder option of the two if I do say so). Yesterday, Healey went one better, flawlessly necking a pint at the Two Chairmen in Westminster after delivering his first Budget. 

Optics-wise, Labour is pulling away in the race to be the party of the pub  — can you honestly imagine many of the Conservative shadow cabinet, apart from perhaps Richard Fuller, with an upturned empty pint glass over their head? Policy-wise, however, the picture is remarkably different. It’s fortunate that Healey got his round in this week (although presumably he may have received a couple on the house), as his Budget — dubbed a “Coward’s Charter” by my economist colleague — will be making booze far pricier.

Britain’s pubs hardly need to face another headwind. The nation lost a net 336 pubs in 2025, leaving 43,656 by year end. A closed pub means yet another boarded up high-street premise, a flurry of forfeited jobs for those seeking flexible employment and the loss of one of the few spaces where local communities can come together without having to book a table or download an app. 

To give the Chancellor a fair hearing, there was a little relief offered to publicans in this week’s Budget. From April 2027, the threshold for Small Business Rate Relief will rise from £12,000 to £18,000 in rateable value for qualifying retail, hospitality and leisure properties in England. Industry-dedicated business-rate relief for pubs will also rise from 15 to 35 per cent. This will have a tangible impact and Healey and the Labour Party deserve credit for them.

But the government has a strange way of showing its affection. With one hand it offers relief and with the other it piles on costs.

Take the price of a pint. From February, alcohol duty will rise in line with inflation, pushing duty on a pint from 50p to 52p. Taken in isolation, two pence doesn’t sound too much to the drinker, but when looking at how much the pub reaps in profit from a draught of the cold stuff, it seriously starts to add up. The Beer and Pub Association calculated that once VAT, beer duty, business rates, employment taxes, cost of sales, wages, utilities and other operating costs are accounted for, on a £5 pint, only 12p is profit. A shocking reward for keeping the beer flowing and the toilets vaguely presentable. 

The duty rise is hardly the only pressure. From April 2027, the National Living Wage will rise by 3.9 per cent. Pubs are labour-intensive businesses, often with limited room to manoeuvre. On top of the employer National Insurance hikes introduced by Healey’s predecessor, the NLW hike will likely mean more expensive drinks and fewer jobs, robbing thousands of youngsters of the chance to bag their first job pulling points. My recent co-authored paper for the Prosperity Institute found that a five-year freeze to the living wage could create up to 600,000 jobs. Healey tacitly conceded something of this by breaking a Labour manifesto pledge and retaining differing rates between 18-20s and older workers, but this amounts to small beer with close to one million NEETs in search of work.

Then there is the government’s voracious appetite for employment regulation. From the 1^st of January, employers will have to give new workers a government-written statement explaining their right to join a trade union. Existing staff must receive it by the end of April. As The Times reported this week, even businesses with only one or two employees are covered, including family-run firms that might employ their own children.

Labour ministers argue that workers in small businesses can benefit from union membership. Perhaps they can. But it is not the role of government to ram it down employee’s throats or waste business owners’ time with box-ticking. Considering the government has promised to reduce the administrative burden of regulation by 25 per cent, it is pretty difficult to see how this policy squares up. Does a landlord really need Whitehall to remind their daughter that she can join a union?

The cumulative effect of these measures is slowly, but surely killing off pubs. Last year’s Budget added £322m to costs for pubs and brewers. Despite Healey’s latest package offering some relief on rates, it does virtually nothing to change the wider direction of travel. 

A politician enjoying a pint isn’t as bad as the doomsters on social media would have you believed. I actually think it’s a good thing — it makes them appear more normal. Pork scratchings (in moderation) are also a perfectly acceptable bar snack. Publicans, however, need more than ministers who look comfortable behind a bar.

Healey has raised a glass to his first Budget. For Britain’s much beloved pub industry, the celebrations might be rather more muted. Political parties say they love pubs; they should therefore do a better job making it easier to run one.