![\"Jamie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1777107952_400_jamie-oliver.jpg\")
<\/p>\nCelebrity chef Jamie Oliver has criticised ministers, warning that rising tax pressures risk damaging Britain\u2019s economic prospects. <\/p>\n
Speaking to Times Radio, he said current policies are discouraging entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you just batter the entrepreneurs, you’re going to get nothing,\u201d he said, adding that \u201cthis island will become less and less important, less and less relevant very quickly\u201d.<\/p>\n
Mr Oliver argued that there is a lack of understanding about what supports economic growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lack of understanding of the chemistry of what a bubbling, buoyant, optimistic, aspirational cool country called Britain looks like,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He also accused policymakers of failing to distinguish between large corporations and smaller operators, claiming independent hospitality businesses are \u201cbeing choked out\u201d by a system that treats them the same as major chains.<\/p>\n
His comments come as other industry figures raise similar concerns.<\/p>\n
John Vincent, co\u2011founder of the Leon restaurant chain, has criticised Government tax policies, saying the current approach is placing significant pressure on the sector.<\/p>\n
Jamie Oliver criticises Labour tax policy as hospitality sector warns of rising costs<\/p>\n
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\u201cToday, for every pound we receive from the customer, around 36p goes to the Government in tax, and about two pence ends up in the hands of the company,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s why most players are reporting big losses.\u201d<\/p>\n
The hospitality industry is facing rising costs linked to higher National Insurance contributions, increases to the minimum wage and business rates.<\/p>\n
Further pressure may come from proposed changes to business rates affecting shared office spaces.<\/p>\n
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Chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing reforms expected to raise around \u00a3600million a year from providers across England<\/p>\n
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Analysis from ChamberlainWalker suggests small businesses using co\u2011working spaces could face average annual cost increases of around \u00a35,400, with up to 150,000 workers potentially moving away from shared offices as a result.<\/p>\n
Founder Chris Walker criticised the policy, calling it \u201cjust about the most damaging way I can think of for a Government to raise what would be a modest amount of revenue\u201d.<\/p>\n
The changes follow a decision by the Valuation Office Agency (VOA) to classify shared office buildings as single premises rather than separate units, removing eligibility for small business rates relief for many tenants.<\/p>\n
The Federation of Small Businesses has urged ministers to intervene.<\/p>\n
Paul Wilson, the organisation\u2019s policy director, warned that \u201cevery small business, potentially a self\u2011employed person or micro\u2011business using a shared space, faces thousands of pounds of extra costs,\u201d adding that higher bills for shared offices would be \u201cnegative for the Government\u2019s local growth agenda\u201d.<\/p>\n
Richard Johnson, managing director of flexible office operator UBC, said the changes would be difficult for smaller firms to absorb.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are local entrepreneurs and small teams, not big corporations with deep pockets,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Industry body FlexSA said it has held three meetings with the Exchequer Secretary on the issue without resolution.<\/p>\n
The Treasury said support remains in place for businesses, pointing to a \u00a34.3billion support package and a five pence reduction in business rates for hospitality firms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has criticised ministers, warning that rising tax pressures risk damaging Britain\u2019s economic prospects. Speaking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":917275,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5018,3,4],"tags":[748,1700,393,4884,1232,12,1144,712,512,1200,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-917274","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"category-uk","9":"category-united-kingdom","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-england","13":"tag-great-britain","14":"tag-money","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-northern-ireland","17":"tag-scotland","18":"tag-sgg","19":"tag-tax","20":"tag-uk","21":"tag-united-kingdom","22":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116464555655789440","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=917274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/917274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/917275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=917274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=917274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=917274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}