‘It will be cheaper to close’: businesses urge Liz Truss to act fast over soaring bills
Guy Adams, who has run the Isle of Barra Beach Hotel in the Hebrides for 16 years, may be forced to close his doors to guests for at least a year as spiralling energy bills make business untenable.
The hotelier’s annual electricity bill is projected to rise from about £25,000 to £120,000 on top of a wave of price increases expected from suppliers, who are also facing soaring costs.
He says the boutique hotel, which lays claim to be Britain’s most westerly, would have to double the prices it charges it guests next year – to a level Adams believes cash-strapped holidaymakers will not pay – unless Liz Truss turns her “pro-business” promises into rapid action.
“We can’t quote anyone looking to book their holidays next summer because we can’t give them a rate,” he says.
“But we are looking like we would have to more than double our rates. If we do that we would not expect anyone to be able to pay that, given everyone’s costs have gone up. We would have paper rates and no business.
“We must now look at not opening next year – shut down for at least a year. We have no option but to put it on the table given the huge overnight increase in energy costs. It will be cheaper to not open than open.”
Truss campaigned as a pro-business leader with promises such as ditching the recent increase in national insurance and a planned rise in corporation tax, as well as pledging a reform of business rates to win over Tory party members.
Responding to Truss’s appointment, Sir Rocco Forte, the Brexiter hotelier and Tory donor who hit out at Boris Johnson earlier this year, said: “From what I have seen of her, Liz Truss is a very determined person and has a very clear idea as to what she has to do. I am very hopeful.”
Forte added: “I think obviously she
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