Hairdressers and barbers are joining pub landlords in banning Labor MPs from their premises as anger grows on the high street over business rates, rising wage costs and what some owners are calling a “betrayal” by the government.
Signs reading “No Labor MPs” are now appearing in salon windows and barbershops, a reminder of a protest in which more than 1,000 pubs have already banned MPs from Keir Starmer’s party. The move follows widespread dissatisfaction with Rachel Reeves’ budget, which business groups say has imposed new costs on already struggling companies.
Salon owners say they are particularly annoyed that ministers have promised to support the high street by creating a “level playing field” between bricks-and-mortar stores and online giants. While Reeves announced a cut in the business rates multiplier for smaller businesses, the discount is just 5p – far less than the 20p cut demanded by many businesses – and will be wiped out by rising tax rates.
Collette Osborne, who runs two Hairven salons in Nottinghamshire, said she put up a sign saying “No Labor MPs” after she was hit by a rise in business rates of more than £10,000 a year. Your local Labor MPs are Juliet Campbell and Michael Payne.
“Small businesses like mine are desperate and hanging by a thread,” Osborne said. “Rachel Reeves promised to work to protect hair salons, but the government now appears to be sticking its fingers in its ears. There is no spare capacity to absorb rising rates for businesses on top of higher wages, utilities, finance costs and Covid debt repayments.”
In London, salon owner Emma Vickery said nearly four decades of paying taxes and employing staff was being undermined by rising costs. “It’s becoming financially unsustainable,” she said. “Without urgent support or acknowledgment of the pressures placed on small employers, businesses like mine will simply disappear.”
The backlash reflects growing discontent in the hospitality industry, where restaurateurs have warned that higher employers’ social security contributions and a higher-than-inflation increase in the minimum wage are accelerating closures. Some MPs, including Reeves himself, were reportedly refused entry to local pubs.
Toby Dicker, from the Salon Employers’ Association, said many in the industry felt particularly let down by a Labor government that had promised to “make work pay”.
“These are decent, hard-working people – the backbone of the high street – who expected support, not a higher tax burden,” he said. “There is a strong sense of betrayal.”
The conservatives have seized on the discontent. Andrew Griffith, the party’s business spokesman, said: “This government isn’t listening to small businesses, so it’s no wonder salons have joined pubs in banning their Labor MPs. Perhaps if ministers felt even a fraction of the misery that exists on high streets, things could change.”
A Labor source defended the Government’s approach, saying: “The Government is supporting businesses across the country, including hairdressers and salons. That is why the Chancellor has announced a £4.3 billion support package in the Budget.”
Despite this reassurance, the proliferation of protest signs from pubs to salons underlines the extent of the anger among small business owners – and the political challenge Labor faces as it tries to calm the high streets it claims to champion.
