Priorities for my third term representing tourism and hospitality

Last month I was honoured to be unanimously re-elected as Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Hospitality and Tourism for a third time, alongside Vice Chairs Nigel Huddleston MP, Caroline Voaden MP and Dan Aldridge MP.

Huge thanks to colleagues from across the House for their support. Hospitality and tourism gave me my first job at 14 and they do the same for young people in every community in the country. That's why these sectors have to be central to getting young people into work.

Hospitality and tourism can provide that vital first rung on the ladder – giving young people their first job, their first pay packet, confidence, skills and a route into a career. Few sectors can create those opportunities in virtually every community in Britain in the way ours can.

I welcome the priority our new Prime Minister Andy Burnham has already placed on getting young people into work and his call for businesses and government to work together to provide these opportunities. He has also been clear that he wants to see growth reach every postcode.

“As Chair, I will continue to be a strong voice for these sectors in Parliament, while making sure Ministers hear directly from the businesses and workers on the front line.”

Hospitality and tourism are uniquely placed to help him deliver both ambitions. From our biggest cities to coastal and rural communities, these are sectors that create jobs where people actually live.

But we cannot ask businesses to create those jobs while ignoring the enormous pressures they are facing. Businesses continue to tell me about the cumulative burden of tax, employment costs, energy bills and business rates. I will continue making the case for meaningful business rates reform, a fairer approach to employment costs and a reduction in tax for hospitality and tourism so British businesses can compete on a more level playing field internationally.

I also want us to unlock the enormous potential of our domestic and inbound visitor economy, improve transport and connectivity, support our high streets and destinations, and ensure that any future visitor levy works with rather than against the businesses upon which our tourism economy depends.

As Chair, I will continue to be a strong voice for these sectors in Parliament, while making sure Ministers hear directly from the businesses and workers on the front line.

This has always been a genuinely cross-party APPG, and I’m looking forward to continuing to work with colleagues from across the House who all share an interest in seeing these industries thrive.

Alongside Vice Chairs Daniel Aldridge, MP for Weston-super-Mare; Caroline Voaden, MP for South Devon; and Nigel Huddleston, MP for Droitwich and Evesham

With the right support, hospitality and tourism can drive growth, regenerate our high streets and communities, and most importantly give hundreds of thousands of young people the opportunity and hope that comes with a first job.

That will be at the heart of my third term as Chair.

The APPG’s priorities for the coming year will include pressing for further action on the tax and cost burden facing businesses; supporting hospitality and tourism’s role in tackling youth economic inactivity; improving skills and recruitment; strengthening the competitiveness of the UK visitor economy; and ensuring the sector has a strong voice in the development of government policy.