A North East template to support the call for a 10% VAT rate on hospitality
How to use this template:
Replace every [orange placeholder] with your own details, then delete this instruction box.
Add a personal sentence or two wherever you can – a letter in your own words about your own business, job or local pub carries far more weight than a standard one.
Find your North East MP and their email at parliament.uk.
You can send it by email or post; a posted letter to their constituency office is often noticed more.
[Your name]
[Your address]
[Your postcode]
[Your email / phone]
[Date]
[MP’s full name]
House of Commons
London SW1A 0AA
(or your MP’s constituency office address)
Dear [MP’s name],
Re: Cutting VAT on hospitality to 10% – protecting jobs and businesses in our community
I am writing to you as your constituent here in the North East to ask for your support for a permanent reduction in VAT on hospitality from 20% to 10%, in line with most of Europe.
Our region’s food, drink and hospitality sector is one of the things that makes the North East special – and right now it is under real threat.
Choose and adapt the line that fits you – delete the others:
- As the owner of [business name], a [pub / café / restaurant] in [town/area] employing [number] local people, I am seeing first-hand how the current tax burden is making it almost impossible to trade sustainably.
- As someone who works in hospitality at [venue] in [town/area], I am worried about the future of my job and the businesses our community depends on.
- As a North East resident who values the pubs, cafés and restaurants that give our high streets their life, I am alarmed by how many are closing.
The scale of the problem is stark, and our region is feeling it acutely.
Three hospitality businesses are now closing every day across the UK, and more than 2,000 venues are predicted to close this year alone, with tens of thousands of jobs at risk.
The North East has not been spared – we lost 19 pubs in the twelve months to December 2025, and a number of long-standing, well-loved local restaurants have closed their doors after many years of trading.
Leading North East chefs, including Kenny Atkinson of House of Tides in Newcastle, have warned that many businesses are now ‘on their last legs’, describing the level of VAT on hospitality as ‘so disproportionately wrong’.
Hospitality businesses are being squeezed from every direction at once: a VAT rate of 20% – the second highest in Europe, behind only Denmark – alongside a steep rise in business rates, higher energy and food costs, and increased employment costs.
Unlike a manufacturer, a pub or restaurant cannot simply pass these costs on, especially when their customers are feeling the squeeze too.
A cut to 10% would bring us into line with countries like France, Spain and Germany, where lower rates reflect an understanding that hospitality is not a luxury but the demand engine of the entire food economy.
In a region like ours, that engine supports our farmers, brewers, bakers and producers, our jobs, and the regeneration of high streets from Berwick to Barnard Castle.
When a restaurant closes, the loss ripples all the way back to the field.
When VAT was temporarily reduced during the pandemic, it stimulated demand and helped protect businesses and jobs.
This ask is now backed by a united sector.
The #VATsTheProblem campaign, led by chef Tom Kerridge and supported by UKHospitality, the British Beer and Pub Association, the British Institute of Innkeeping and CODE Hospitality, is calling for exactly this change.
I would be grateful if you would:
- Raise the case for a 10% hospitality VAT rate with HM Treasury and Ministers ahead of the Budget.
- Support or sponsor any parliamentary debate, question or motion that presses for this change.
- Let me know what action you are able to take on behalf of constituents working in, and relying on, this sector.
Hospitality is woven into the identity, economy and daily life of the North East.
I hope I can count on your support to help protect it before more of our businesses and jobs are lost for good.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your business / role, if relevant]
This template is provided by Food and Drink North East (FADNE), the region’s farm to fork organisation representing more than 500 food, drink and hospitality businesses across the region, in support of the #VATsTheProblem campaign.
We encourage members, their teams and the wider public to write to their MPs. Add your name to the petition at vatstheproblem.co.uk.
