Starmer Stumbled Into a Battle With the British Pub and Lost
A grassroots campaign against business rates changes pushed the Labour party to change policy, highlighting Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s vulnerability
An employee pours a beer at The Hare, a pub in Tower Hamlets, London.
Photographer: Jose Sarmento Matos/BloombergLabour politicians have been barred from Andy Lennox’s pub, The Old Thatch in Wimborne, Dorset, since December. British pubs have been under intense financial pressure in recent years: from Covid lockdowns, higher energy costs, an increase to the minimum wage and a hike in the national insurance payroll tax. Then, the government changed business rates — a levy on commercial premises which funds local services — and ended covid-era discounts.
That would have left him with a higher bill, despite a promise from the Labour Party that it would lower taxes for pubs. It was a step too far for Lennox, who coordinated a national campaign of publicans banning Labour MPs from their premises.