The budget is limiting options for young people, says Northampton pub owner

Geoff Sharrif has two other jobs on top of running the White Hart pub to ‘support existence’

Laura Coffey/BBC Geoff Sharrif smiles and looks at the camera. He is wearing a black sweater and behind him is a pub bar. — Geoff Sharrif has two other jobs on top of running the White Hart pub to ‘support existence’

A pub landlord has said the upcoming increase in the national minimum wage could limit employment opportunities for young people entering the workforce.

Geoff Sharrif, owner of the White Hart Pub in Hackleton, Northamptonshire, explained that the increase, announced in the Budget, will put further financial pressure on his business.

Under the new policy, the national minimum wage for 18-20-year-olds will rise from £8.60 to £10 an hour from April 2025.

Mr Sharrif said: “We employ a lot of people in their first job with no experience. So when that salary goes up significantly, the concern is that it’s going to be a lot harder to give them that opportunity against someone who already has that experience.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves presented the budget yesterday to a mixed reaction

Reuters Rachel Reeves poses with the red budget box outside her Downing Street office in London. She wears a navy blue suit with a purple blouse underneath and has a poppy pinned to her lapel. — Chancellor Rachel Reeves presented the budget yesterday to a mixed reaction

Chancellor Rachel Reeves delivered Labour’s first budget since 2010 after the party returned to government in July’s general election.

she announced £40bn worth of tax rises to fund the NHS and other public services.

Mr Sharrif added that while the budget “wasn’t as bad as feared”, he did not expect it to immediately boost business, saying consumers would need a “huge confidence boost” to return to pre-pandemic traffic.

The chancellor also announced that while there will still be no inheritance tax due on combined business and farming assets worth less than £1m, above this there will be a 50% relief , at an effective rate of 20%, from April 2026.

“Kick in the teeth”

For years, the farm property exemption allowed family farms – including land used for crops or livestock, as well as farm buildings, cottages and houses – to be passed down through the generations.

Milly Fyfe, a farmer from Yelvertoft, Northamptonshire, said the announcement was “a real kick in the teeth for the farming community”.

Ms Fyfe added: “(Farmers) are working hard to grow food for us all and to attack us again, it’s a bit sad when we’re already up against the wall.”

Milly Fyfe believes the Government’s plans to cut inheritance tax will mean more farmers selling their land to developers.

Milly Fyfe Milly Fyfe in a gray dress with flowers on it stands in a field with her arms on a metal gate and smiles at the camera. — Milly Fyfe believes the Government’s plans to cut inheritance tax will mean more farmers selling their land to developers.

“Fixing the Foundations”

Northamptonshire MPs shared mixed reactions to the budget. Stuart Andrew, Tory MP for Daventry, slammed it as a plan of “broken promises” that would “ultimately hurt working people”.

Lucy Rigby, Labor MP for Northampton North, defended the budget as a step towards “repairing the foundations of our economy”.

She added: “The Chancellor has protected household incomes… and we are putting the country on the path to prosperity.”