Top Labour backer turns on party over Reeves’ ‘crippling’ Budget

One of Labour’蝉 top business backers has turned on Rachel Reeves, warning her Budget will cripple businesses and lead to swathes of job losses.

In a damning letter, Labour donor Sacha Lord threatened to quit the party over the chancellor’蝉 tax-hiking autumn statement unless there were urgent changes.

Mr Lord, who was Greater Manchester’蝉 night time economy adviser under mayor Andy Burnham for seven years, said he is “deeply concerned about the precarious situation” facing the hospitality sector.

“I urge you to act before irreversible damage is done,” he warned the chancellor.

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Mr Lord is the latest high-profile business leader to oppose measures pushed through by the chancellor in October, with growing signs the Budget has stymied economic growth and caused thousands of job losses.

In his emotional letter sent on Tuesday, Mr Lord wrote: “I myself have been a Labour Party member for four years. I am now reconsidering this position.

“I attended your manifesto launch, I supported you in your bid to become the government and I believed you had a deep understanding of the problems on the ground. Not anymore. I heard Labour declare itself the party for business and growth. I no longer believe that to be the case.”

Mr Lord, who also serves as chairman of industry body the Night Time Industries Association, said the hospitality sector employs 3.5 million people and the government is “threatening its very survival”.

He cited warnings of up to 9,000 pub closures this year, including one pub chain that has halted plans to open five new sites. “These businesses are not just numbers, they prop up our high streets, our communities and our culture that we are famed for the world over,” Mr Lord said.

He warned: “If nothing changes, thousands more businesses will collapse, and Labour will be responsible.”

And in a desperate plea for support or a U-turn on Ms Reeves’ Budget, Mr Lord said: “The hospitality sector is an essential driver of growth, a major employer and an irreplaceable part of our social fabric. It can drive the economy out of the stagnancy it has found itself in. It deserves recognition and support to prevent thousands of closures.

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“Chancellor, you must do better.”

In her Budget, Ms Reeves hiked employer national insurance contributions and ended inheritance tax exemptions for farms worth more than ?1m.

Economists have branded the national insurance hike a “tax on working people” that will lead to lower wages and job losses, while family farm owners have warned her inheritance tax raid will force a generation of farmers out of business.

Ms Reeves also unveiled a 6.7 per cent hike in the minimum wage, which employers have said will pile further pressure on already stretched businesses.

Sainsbury’蝉 last month said it would cut 3,000 jobs in the UK due to a looming surge in costs including the higher tax and wage bills caused by Ms Reeves’ Budget.

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And the Confederation of British Industry, which represents businesses, has said the economy was headed for “the worst of all worlds” after the chancellor’蝉 Budget.

In a bid to get back on the front foot after months of economic stagnation, Ms Reeves last month set out a swathe of measures aimed at “turbocharging” the economy, including backing a third runway at Heathrow and overhauling Britain’蝉 planning rules.

That move prompted another Labour backer, millionaire donor and energy tycoon Dale Vince, to warn the Heathrow expansion would be a mistake and provide only “an illusion of growth”.

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith said: "Even Labour members and supporters now recognise Labour have put Britain’蝉 nightlife in the crosshairs.

“The chancellor’蝉 choices are bad for jobs, bad for hospitality, bad for growth.

“Under new leadership, the Conservatives know only business creates growth. It’蝉 high time Rachel Reeves called off her war on private enterprise.”

A Treasury spokesman said: “We’re backing the nightlife sector by cutting 1p off alcohol duty on draught pints, fully protecting or providing 40 per cent relief from business rates from April, permanently cutting rates for retail, hospitality and leisure from April 2026, and ensuring smaller businesses either see a cut or no change in their National Insurance bills from April.”