Children could be sent to pubs if cafes and soft plays shut down, Labour MP warns

Parents of young children face being left with only pubs as social options unless the government broadens its hospitality relief package, a Labour MP has cautioned.

Stella Creasy urged ministers to reconsider the exclusion of vital community spaces like cafes, soft plays, and community centres from their plans, warning that their continued omission could lead to widespread closures.

Echoing her concerns, Labour’s Jim McMahon, a former minister, contended that the wider hospitality sector "could and should have" benefited from the support unveiled on Tuesday.

In a statement to the Commons, Treasury minister Dan Tomlinson outlined that property tax bills for pubs and music venues across England will see a 15 per cent reduction in 2026/27, subsequently being "frozen in real terms" for the following two years.

Mr Tomlinson defended the government’s targeted approach when pressed to extend the relief, telling MPs that these establishments "are valued differently than other sectors on the high street."

During the debate, Ms Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, said: “I must take issue with his metric that pubs are somehow the only cornerstone of community life in this country, and join with colleagues asking for further support for the hospitality industry, in particular those small, independent venues like the cafes and community centres and soft play centres.

“I’m sure he does not want to be the minister responsible for sending toddlers into pubs, because the other places that their parents might take them during the day have closed down. That would not be in anybody’s interest.

“So can I make a plea with him to revisit his exclusion of these smaller, independent chains from the hospitality relief that he’s talking about?”

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Mr Tomlinson replied: “I would not want to be the minister that caused that to happen. She makes a very good point. And as a parent of a young child, I can say how much I value soft play, even though it’s rather exhausting at times.”

He promised to “continue to engage with businesses and with parliamentarians on this important issue in the run-up to future budgets”.

Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney said: “We have a diverse and varied hospitality sector in my constituency of Richmond Park, and it supports lots of different communities, including those who don’t go to pubs – parents of young children, people who don’t drink, faith groups – dare I say it, people who don’t want to watch the football.

“And so they have different needs, they want to go to cafes, they want to go soft play centres. So why is the Government focusing this relief just on pubs?”

Mr Tomlinson replied: “(Ms Olney) may not wish to watch the football, that’s fine, that’s her decision.

“We’re also consulting, she’d be interested to know, on whether we can extend these longer licensing powers to other events. So she’ll have to let me know if there are other events that she would like to go and watch in a pub, and they can be part of the consultation.”

He added that pubs suffered under the previous Tory government, and “are valued differently than other sectors on the high street”.

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Labour former minister Jim McMahon said the “pressures being felt by pubs are being felt by the whole hospitality industry”.

“The Government could, and should, have included that wider package in the announcement today, but can I urge the Treasury even at this second attempt to get it right and have a wider support package for the whole of hospitality?”

In his reply, Mr Tomlinson said other sectors will benefit from the £4.3 billion support package announced at the budget.

Dame Meg Hillier, the Labour MP who chairs the Commons Treasury Committee, pressed the Government on when “significant change” to the business rates system, as promised in Labour’s manifesto, would come forward.

Mr Tomlinson said last year’s budget introduced “a significant rebalancing with the largest businesses having a tax rate multiplier that’s 33 per cent higher than the typical businesses on the high street”.

Labour MP for York Central, Rachael Maskell, urged the Government to introduce support for independent shops, warning businesses in the historic city would shut without it.

She said: “York is a difficult place to trade with two-thirds independents in York, many of them are not going to get the relief which the minister has announced today.”

Mr Tomlinson pointed to the “small business rates relief in place, a relief that we’re extending to support businesses that could extend to a second premises”.