Rocco Forte: Labour’s ‘ideological approach’ risks hammering private sector investment

Luxury hotelier Sir Rocco Forte has said Labour’s rumoured tax raid at the Budget this week will discourage investment from the private sector and unnerve businesses looking to come into the country.

Speaking on the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, the English businessman said Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer are taking an “ideological approach” and forgetting it is the “private sector [that] creates wealth.”

“There are ways a government can spend money – and in deprived areas of the country you need to create the incentives for businesses to start up – but it’s the private sector that creates the wealth and that’s what always is forgotten,” Forte said.

The hotel tycoon, who chairs the luxury Rocco Forte Hotels chain, warned that if the private sector’s role in wealth creation is neglected, the UK will face a “stagnated” economy.

“It’s been forgotten in Europe for years and that’s why Europe has stagnated for a long period of time and we’re going to see the same thing here,” he said.

Lack of investment incentives

When asked whether he thought ministers were creating enough incentives for the private sector, Forte suggested that rumoured policies risked dissuading private financiers from backing the country.

“If the government is spending a huge proportion of money, then it’s taking money away from the private sector, it’s disincentivizing the private sector from investing – high taxation does that – and doesn’t encourage foreign businesses to come into the country,” he added.

Forte has repeatedly hit the spotlight for criticising Labour’s “anti-growth” policies in recent weeks.

According to a report first seen in the Telegraph last month, he warned Britain could be pushed back to the economic challenges of the 1970s.

The hotelier was also among 300 business leaders who recently signed a letter asking Chancellor Rachel Reeves to reinstate tax-free shopping in the UK, calling the so-called tourist tax a “spectacular own goal” for retail.