EVERY single time I go out with mates we have the same conversation about how “everything is so expensive nowadays”.
I’m old enough to remember spending under £30 on a mad night out – complete with 3am cheesy chips.
But instead of waking up regretting how much I drank, I now wake up regretting how much I spent.
It feels like you can’t do anything fun without breaking the bank.
Hospitality was hammered in last year’s Budget with hikes on Employer National Insurance and a rise in the national living wage.
And now Labour’s 2025 Budget bloodbath has hit us fun-loving Brits with a blitz of new taxes.
Drinkers and smokers have been clobbered once again in a fresh “sin tax” raid.
You can expect to spend more down the boozer as landlords warn they will have to put up prices in response to Labour’s hated hikes.
The price of a pack of cigarettes will rise from 6pm tonight – bringing some brands up to nearly a quid a fag.
Even milkshakes and lattes were not safe from the grasping Treasury – with milky drinks slapped with a sugar tax for the first time.
Measures announced in today’s Budget include…
If you enjoy online gaming, the odds have not fallen in your favour.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has whacked taxes up on gaming and online betting in order to raise £1.1 billion by 2029-30.
This will kill thousands of jobs and force shops to shut, industry experts warned.
And Labour’s new taxi tax will be another nail in the coffin of a night out.
Ordering a taxi like an Uber or Bolt in London is about to get more expensive due to a VAT hike.
And if you fancy getting away from it all by going on holiday you now face a tourist tax in your own country.
Mayors like Sir Sadiq Khan and Andy Burnham are getting fresh powers to charge a tax for staying overnight.
Even Devon and Cornwall will be able to charge a £2-a-night levy on people staying in hotels and Airbnb-style lets.
All these wretched taxes on fun could signal the death of the weekend away.
Sure, it’s still cheap for Brits to holiday in some European countries – but it costs you an arm and a leg to get there due to rising airline costs.
All the Budget’s miserable taxes have real world consequences. Especially when everything already feels so expensive.
Pubs are closing down every day and restaurants are laying off staff amid Labour’s cripplingly high business taxes.
Britain’s high streets are littered with money-laundering barbers and candy shops which suddenly close down and pop up elsewhere.
Mates can’t afford to go down the pub – or don’t have a pub – and families can’t afford a takeaway.
You can’t walk into your local supermarket without dropping a small fortune on bare essentials.
And when you get home from work – letters are sat on the doormat containing sky high energy bills.
Those who have saved hard and planned for their future are now going to be hit in their pensions and cash Isas.
The embarrassingly leaked OBR report revealed living standards will rise more slowly than expected because of slowing wage growth and Labour’s tax rises.
Don’t the strivers deserve to have a bit of light relief?
You work all week and get whacked. You try to be sensible with your cash and get whacked. You try to have fun and get whacked.
Meanwhile, the unsustainable benefits bill continues to soar.
Labour’s spending policies – including lifting the two child benefit cap – will push up welfare spending by £9 billion.
When you work hard all week and still can’t afford to play – is it little surprise so many young people don’t see the point in getting a job?
