MORE business closures are “inevitable” in the hospitality industry before Christmas, according to a campaigner who wants the government to help “save what’s left” by cutting VAT.

Andy Lennox, who runs Dorset’s Zim Braai and Nusara restaurants and set up the local lobby group Wonky Table, has started a petition on Parliament’s website calling for the sales tax to be halved to 10 per cent for the industry.

The petition has attracted more than 5,000 signatures in five days and he expects it to reach 10,000 this week requiring a response from the government.

Mr Lennox said he was not expecting action in the chancellor’s autumn statement today.

“I think it’s inevitable now that there are going to be more closures across hospitality unless something comes up in the budget. I think it’s more about saving what’s left than being able to save people this side of Christmas,” he said.

“We’re seeing more closures this year than we saw during Covid,” he added.

He said the government’s help with businesses’ energy bills this winter as “welcome” but still left them with soaring costs.

“We had one energy bill which should have been £18,000 which has risen to £69,000. The government help brought that back down to £52,000,” he said.

He said suppliers of all kinds were putting up prices.

“I spent the whole day in meetings yesterday dealing with supplier increases, trying to figure out what we’re going to do,” he added.

One Poole restaurateur, who did not want to be named, said: “If they don’t do something you’re going to get a massive percentage of hospitality going down the pan very quickly.

“In hospitality, we provide two thirds of the tax and the employment. By having these payouts, we can invest in our businesses and we can employ people.”

He said he and his wife, who run the business, were working 60 hours a week and earning less from the business than their staff.

“We’re not taking any major salaries from it. We’ve taken a wage cut and are more or less below the minimum wage. It’s going to be hard. We haven’t really seen the repercussions of these new bills yet but it’s going to be pretty awful,” he added.

The petition is at petition.parliament.uk/petitions/625741