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Potential New Universal UK Park

Hidden in today's budget is this little tidbit, which could possibly apply to theme parks (absolutely no detail released yet, so put the lotion away).
From 2026-27 permanently lower tax rates will be introduced for retail, hospitality & leisure (RHL) properties.
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From: https://x.com/hmtreasury/status/1851613430374875407


Until the actual budget is published, and actual figures, we have no idea what the cut is or who will be entitled to it. It could be a cut to business rates, it could be a cut to VAT.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Hidden in today's budget is this little tidbit, which could possibly apply to theme parks (absolutely no detail released yet, so put the lotion away).


From: https://x.com/hmtreasury/status/1851613430374875407


Until the actual budget is published, and actual figures, we have no idea what the cut is or who will be entitled to it. It could be a cut to business rates, it could be a cut to VAT.
Click to expand...

It’s business rates. She mentioned it in the speech.
 
GooseOnTheLoose said:
Hidden in today's budget is this little tidbit, which could possibly apply to theme parks (absolutely no detail released yet, so put the lotion away).


From: https://x.com/hmtreasury/status/1851613430374875407


Until the actual budget is published, and actual figures, we have no idea what the cut is or who will be entitled to it. It could be a cut to business rates, it could be a cut to VAT.
Click to expand...

Veering off topic (further discussion for the UK politics thread) but this is excellent if true.

If I'm being honest, when I saw the employers NI and living wage increases (not saying either are bad perse) I immediately thought of leisure and retail. I've honestly been worried about my own job! I've seen the numbers and did a quick crunch (I'm at work now doing just that) and I know the shop I run, and many others, are barely breaking even. And yes, I am talking about those big evil supermarkets that get accused of "raking in billions".

They all have different strategies, but for my last employer, they told us once that they were carrying 11% of the store estate that was loss making. There's been lobbying for years about levelling the playing field between bricks and mortar, and digital operators. It's astonishing that it's taken this long.

A fair tax regime is needed for entertainment and hospitality. This could be part of the negotiations with Comcast to attract the investment.
 
Retail and hospitality relief won't apply to larger businesses as they are above the threshold to qualify anyway so it's kind of irrelevant for the likes of Universal or Merlin.

The lower tax rates is the real incentive here but you have to wonder how much National Insurance contributions will cancel out any benefit for the sector.
 
I imagine Starmer becoming PM would have been more consequential than Trump becoming president, and that didn’t seem to grind things to a halt.
 
dave___ said:
The wheels of bureaucracy move incredibly slowly. Plus we're rapidly approaching the christmas break for parliament too so I wouldn't expect to see anything more in 2024 personally.
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However seeing how the Conservative party and the press are suddenly against the idea of giving foreign companies sweeteners and tax breaks to do business in the UK you could potentially see something getting announced right before Christmas so it gets swept away in all the festive news stories.
 
The expectations that this was going to happen any faster were always a bit silly. It's not like knocking up a conservatory. It remains more likely to happen than not now, but it's still not guaranteed to even happen. If it does, we'll have a great while longer to wait yet. It's not the kind of project that creates groundbreaking progress news on a monthly basis.

Regarding Trump, I'd say it makes it more likely. The US isn't looking like an attractive place to invest long term at the moment, and Europe is looking a little chaotic politically. Suddenly, with a new government that will likely be in power for another 4 years, the UK has relatively high levels of political stability presently.
 
We also found out about this project months before Comcast were ready for any sort of public consultation which could have even been sped up by the leaks so they could try and get on top of the public's reception to the news.

We're gonna have to play the long game with this one and currently I'm not really excited for the resort as that's yonks away however I'm thoroughly enjoying any updates and love the fact that in a couple years time we could all be gawking at a live construction site for Universal Great Britain.

Another thing about this project for me is I'm definitely going to take a trip to Orlando sooner than later now most likely next year partly because I've never been to a Universal park so would be great to hit up the 3 in Orlando to see what we're working with and what quality to expect it.
 
I bet they’re spitting feathers about the employer national insurance tax rise etc behind closed doors though. That’s surely going to cost them millions of pounds extra per year, so for all we know maybe they went back to the drawing board and are trying their luck with more tax breaks or greater tax breaks elsewhere since these announcements.

I know I would be if I was them.
 
Blackrock said:
I bet they’re spitting feathers about the employer national insurance tax rise etc behind closed doors though. That’s surely going to cost them millions of pounds extra per year, so for all we know maybe they went back to the drawing board and are trying their luck with more tax breaks or greater tax breaks elsewhere since these announcements.

I know I would be if I was them.
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There were also some other nice surprises for them in the budget, though, such as the permanent lowering of business rates for hospitality and leisure from 2026/27.

Universal may also have negotiated some unique-to-them tax breaks, for all we know. We don’t know the details.
 
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