865 Dorset businesses closed and 790 opened from January to June, ONS figures show. Vikki Slade MP wants a hospitality VAT cut in the coming Budget.
More Dorset businesses shut than opened in the first half of 2026, and Mid Dorset and North Poole MP Vikki Slade is asking the Chancellor to put a temporary VAT cut for hospitality into the Budget to stop the slide on the high street.
Office for National Statistics business demography figures, compiled by her office, show 865 businesses registered for VAT or PAYE closed in the Dorset Council area between January and June, while 790 opened. That leaves the county 75 firms down in six months.
Two roundtables, one message
Earlier this month Ms Slade held two roundtables for business owners, one in Wimborne and one in Wareham. According to her office, owners at both said they were seriously worried about whether they could survive with VAT where it is, and agreed that a cost of living support package would give them “some much needed breathing space”.
“From the two local business roundtables I hosted in Wimborne and Wareham this month, I know that finances are a ticking time bomb,” the Liberal Democrat MP said. “We’ve seen an unacceptable rise in business closures, but a cost of living support package would give families and local businesses breathing space.
“Our high streets are struggling, but it’s not too late to save them. The Chancellor must stop dragging his feet and bring forward an emergency package that backs local businesses with a hospitality VAT cut, and puts money back in people’s pockets to spend in our town centres.”
Her argument is that household budgets have been squeezed from several directions this year, leaving less to spend in shops, pubs and restaurants. Her office lists the January changes to the energy price cap and fuel duty, rail fares rising 4.2% in March, and in April both council tax rises and VAT returning on electricity.
What the figures show
The closures were spread across both quarters. From January to March, 440 Dorset businesses closed and 395 opened, a net loss of 45. From April to June, 425 closed and 395 opened, a net loss of 30.
The North Poole half of her seat sits in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole, where the same data show 960 closures against 890 openings over the six months, a net loss of 70. Across the South West, 11,890 businesses closed and 11,240 opened.
The longer-run figures in the same spreadsheet, from the ONS business register, are more mixed. The number of retail businesses in the Dorset Council area fell from 1,390 in 2019-20 to 1,335 in 2023-24, down 55. Accommodation and food businesses, the hospitality trade the VAT cut is aimed at, rose over the same period from 1,225 to 1,325.
The Liberal Democrat plan
Ms Slade and her party want the Chancellor to bring forward an emergency package to cover the next 18 months. They put the cost at £14bn over that period and say it would be paid for by a windfall tax on the big banks, a clawback from energy network monopolies, and extra oil and gas revenue. It has three parts:
- A temporary VAT cut for hospitality, accommodation and attractions. The party says this would go far beyond the Government’s £150 million fund for music venues and pubs. It also wants the business rates system overhauled and the employer National Insurance burden reduced.
- An Essential Energy Guarantee. Every household would get a basic energy allowance, equal to half of average consumption, at a discounted rate, with extra allowances for children, and disabled people and those on the lowest incomes would get the discounted rate on all their energy use. The party says this would cut average annual bills by £100, and by £140 on average for the poorest 20% of households.
- An emergency transport package. Fuel duty would be cut by 10p, which the party says would take 12p a litre off pump prices; bus fares would fall to £1 from the current £3 cap; rail fares would be cut by 10%; and VAT on public electric vehicle charging would be cut, with a review of network costs.
The figures and costings are the party’s own. The Government has not responded to the proposals in the material sent to us.
What it means for you
- Nothing changes yet. These are proposals from an opposition MP and her party, not Government policy. Whether VAT, fuel duty or bus fares change depends on what the Chancellor announces in the Budget.
- If you run a business in Wimborne, Wareham or elsewhere in Mid Dorset and North Poole, and want to tell your MP how the year has gone, her contact details are on the UK Parliament website.
- For the wider picture on local jobs, see our report on Dorset’s claimant count and the latest new businesses registered in Dorset.
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