Donald Macleod MBE, the owner of Glasgow’s legendary Garage and Cathouse night clubs, warned firms are being ‘pushed towards extinction’.
One of Scotland’s most successful hospitality bosses has warned thousands of jobs are being lost because firms being “pushed towards extinction” by government policy.
Donald Macleod MBE, the owner of Glasgow’s legendary Garage and Cathouse night clubs, has spoken out as new figures show UK unemployment rising to 5per cent.
He accused Labour of “hammering” the high street with extra taxes resulting in young people being thrown on the dole queue.
He said: “Starmer and Reeves promised stability, competence, and a pro-growth agenda that would restore confidence in business and public services.
“Instead, they delivered betrayal, hammering the High Street with one of the most anti-hospitality budgets this country has ever seen.
“The High Street and hospitality industry are not just dying—they’re being pushed towards extinction.
“Rising operating and supply costs, higher taxation, and persistent uncertainty over policy direction have left many firms teetering on the edge of the abyss, while pushing countless others over it.
“Footfall has declined, margins have eroded, employer National Insurance increases and minimum wage rises have tightened hiring conditions, opening hours and shifts are being reduced, and investment has flatlined.
“In Scotland alone, an estimated 8,000 hospitality jobs have been lost, with more than 130,000 across the UK disappearing altogether.
“This week, we learned unemployment has risen to 5per cent, while unemployment among 16–24-year-olds has soared above 240,000.
“More than 100,000 of those jobs were lost in April alone, which is shocking. This is no short-term downturn, the figures are depressingly moving in only one direction.”
Writing on his Substack column The Glasgow Splash, the businessman called Labour’s leadership battle “amateur dramatics” rather than a psychodrama, and called for a general election.
He said: “Sir Keir Starmer has undoubtedly become a liability to the Labour movement. Whole swathes of the working-class electorate—including many within his own party—have railed against what they see as an autocratic automaton – a man devoid of personality, conviction, and, more importantly, vision.
“It is not just Keir who should go. Senior figures such as Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner, David Lammy, Ed Miliband, and Yvette Cooper must also shoulder responsibility for Labour’s catastrophic fall from grace.
“They call it a psychodrama, but it feels more like an amateur dramatics society.
“That problem is trust. Once political trust begins to erode on a national scale, it becomes exceptionally difficult to restore.
“Which is why the country now requires something beyond Westminster manoeuvring and internal party games. It requires a democratic reset. A General Election must be called.
“We have already had four unelected Prime Ministers in the past 10 years; let there not be a fifth.”
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