Yesterday, Julia Lopez MP brought Shadow Chancellor, Sir Mel Stride, to Upminster to hear directly from Havering’s hospitality businesses about the growing crisis facing the high street as tax bills and cost pressures pile up from Labour’s two Budgets.
It was Sir Mel’s second visit to Mrs Lopez’s Hornchurch & Upminster constituency in the past year, after meeting salon owners on Hornchurch High Street. The Shadow Treasury team has since been holding the Chancellor to account in parliament, securing partial government u-turns and developing new pro-high street policies.
Local pubs, cafés and restaurants gathered with Sir Mel at the Jobber’s Rest pub on St Mary’s Lane to warn the Shadow Chancellor that rising National Insurance contributions, reduced business rates relief, higher rateable values, increased energy costs and new employment laws are forcing impossible choices.
Many local firms are having to raise prices for customers, cut staff, and question whether they can continue to make their numbers work. As staff teams shrink, owners are taking on the workload, reducing family time and leaving little or no income from businesses they have poured years of effort into building.
Following the meeting with businesses including Tandoori Lounge, The Chequers, The Hop Inn and Tea Island, Mrs Lopez and Sir Mel visited GOAT in Upminster, where owner Iftakar Hussain explained how opening a new independent restaurant in 2024 has been made significantly harder by rising business rates and an uncertain trading environment.
Businesses warned that if independent hospitality venues are lost, high streets will be hollowed out. This will leave communities poorer and the Treasury ultimately collecting less tax as closures accelerate.
Many businesses described the work they did during the pandemic to support their customers, including delivering food and supplies to elderly customers, underlining that independent owners often provide support well beyond what they do on their premises.
It was Sir Mel’s second visit to Mrs Lopez’s Hornchurch & Upminster constituency in the past year, after he met barbers, hairdressers and salons on Hornchurch High Street to talk about the challenges facing the hair and beauty industry.
The message given Sir Mel has been repeated on his visits to constituencies across the country, leading to opposition in parliament to the Chancellor’s national insurance and business rates hikes, and the forthcoming Unemployment Bill which will make it harder, more expensive and riskier to employ people.
The Conservatives have since pledged to abolish business rates entirely for small high street businesses, replacing a broken system that penalises investment and job creation. This week, the Shadow Treasury and Business teams secured a partial u-turn on the disastrous decision at the November Budget to hike business rates, but the Chancellor’s relief package will not help 15 out of 16 affected businesses.
Commenting on the visit, Julia Lopez MP said:
“The incentive structure in this country is completely wrong. People who are doing the right thing by working relentlessly to build a business out of passion and hard work, are being punished by this Government.
“The layering of costs is making it impossible to make a living, employ people or plan for the future. Many owners are cutting staff, working longer hours and taking nothing out of their businesses just to survive.
“If we lose these businesses, we rip the life out of our high streets. That means fewer jobs, weaker communities and, in the end, less tax revenue for the Government. This is fast becoming a crisis for hospitality, and that’s why it was so important to bring the Shadow Chancellor here to see it first-hand and to meet the fantastic people building businesses in Havering.”
Iftakar Hussain owner of GOAT said:
“The rising cost of running a business without adequate government support is both challenging and deeply frustrating. Increases in Business Rates and the removal of relief from April 2026 are catastrophic for a hospitality sector already under severe strain from higher wages, increased employer NI contributions, spiralling food costs, and some of the highest energy prices—where hospitality is arguably one of the largest energy consumers. Add to this immigration policies that are choking the flow of genuine overseas talent, while the chronic shortage of chefs in the UK continues to be overlooked, and it leaves me wondering: why do I bother at all?”
Shadow Chancellor, Sir Mel Stride, added:
"Julia has worked tirelessly in Parliament to stand up for her local businesses and it was really valuable to spend time in Upminster with her, talking to local business owners and hearing first-hand about the pressures they're under - not least the eye-watering tax increases many are now facing as a direct result of the Chancellor's decisions.
"At a moment when hospitality is already fighting to stay afloat, Labour has chosen to pile on higher business taxes to fund a growing welfare bill.
"Higher taxes. More welfare. Fewer jobs. That is the direction Labour has chosen."
Richard Ferrier, CEO of Heartwood Collection Commented:
“I want to thank Julia Lopez MP and the Shadow Chancellor for coming to one of our pubs today to discuss the huge challenges that the UK’s hospitality sector is facing.
“Pubs up and down the country like ours here at the Jobber’s rest are seeing huge increases to business rates and for many it will mean that unfortunately they’re no longer viable.
“Events like these are important for keeping up the pressure on the Government so that we can hopefully secure a full u-turn and a proper solution for supporting hospitality.”
Mrs Lopez said she would continue to raise the concerns of Hornchurch and Upminster’s hospitality sector in Parliament, warning that without long term reform to business rates, many valued local businesses risk being lost from the high street.
