Jeremy Clarkson has said there is no reason to set up a business in Andy Burnham’s Britain as he made a surprise appearance at the Conservative Party conference. The Telegraph has more.
In a surprise appearance at the Conservative Party conference, the television presenter said he would only open a second pub if he did so abroad.
Dismissing the idea of setting up a new business in Britain, Clarkson said: “Why would anybody set up a business in this country right now?”
Labour has hit small businesses with a series of tax rises since taking power in 2024.
Hundreds of business closures have been blamed on a £25bn raid on employers’ National Insurance by Rachel Reeves, John Healey’s predecessor as chancellor.
Combined with several inflation-busting increases to the minimum wage and changes to Covid-era business rates relief, this has made it harder for pubs and shops to hire staff.
Clarkson opened The Farmer’s Dog pub in the Cotswolds, where he also owns the Diddly Squat farm, in August 2024.
However, when asked by Victoria Atkins, the Shadow Environment Secretary, about opening another pub, he replied: “I’ll see if I can do it abroad somewhere. I probably won’t, but I’m dreaming of it.”
On becoming Prime Minister in July, Andy Burnham announced that business rates would be cut by 20% for pubs, clubs and live music venues from April – a partial victory for the Telegraph’s Save Our Pubs campaign.
However, within an hour of the announcement one of Burnham’s Ministers admitted that the two proposed sources of funding for the policy were still being looked at.
A revaluation of business rates came into effect in April at the same time as Covid-era reliefs for the high street, prompting warnings that as many as 340,000 businesses could go to the wall.
In a swipe at Burnham over a planned migrant camp near the Oxfordshire village of Piddington, Clarkson added: “I might have to go to Piddington – that’s abroad, isn’t it?”
Last month, residents of Piddington voted to “secede from the UK” after the Government announced plans to convert a former Army garrison into accommodation for 1,256 male asylum seekers.
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Masochism?
The business disadvantages are almost impossible for anyone building a business or in customer facing businesses.
The banking advice services that I have experienced myself and more recently with my son, are totally ill-equipped to give practical commercial advice.
My experience of Business Link was a guy telling me about how well he had done in his business, who went on to explain how much money he made giving his “advice”.
My son’s experience with a bank small business adviser was to dismiss his business plan as unrealistic – he exceeded it by a large margin and is now a multi-millionaire. He didn’t bother with that bank and went with another one. Their loss.
He now runs his businesses from off-shore.