Shadow chancellor and MP for Leeds West, Rachel Reeves, toured the Splashpoint Leisure Centre, Brighton Road, during her visit.
She was shown around by Duncan Anderson, CEO of South Downs Leisure which operates the centre. Mr Anderson described how annual utilities costs could double for the centre and cost more than £700,000, and they could even rise to £850,000.
He also expects chemical costs to go up – including those that are used to keep the pool clean. “We have been knocked for six during the pandemic,” he said, “now there is a perfect storm and it needs government intervention. We are expecting to run next year at a loss but it is a loss we can manage with reserves to see us through.”
Mr Anderson called for VAT relief ‘even if it’s just for a year. It could make the difference between some pools remaining open or having to close,” he said. “Everyone should have the right of learning to swim.”
Ms Reeves agreed that the pool and swimming lessons were ‘essential’ especially with ‘the sea being so close’.
She noted that families facing rising costs could cut out ‘non-essentials’ like gym and pool memberships. Mr Anderson said: “If they can’t afford to feed their family, they won’t be able to afford a swim.”
The CEO also spoke to his own staff about the pressures they were facing. High petrol prices mean some find it difficult to afford to get to work.
In response, Ms Reeves said: “We will have skilled people not taking up jobs because they can’t afford to get to work.”
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the shadow chancellor said people were ‘scared’ of rising costs.
“I’ve been speaking to local people and businesses today around the cost of living,” she said.
“Whether you’re in Leeds, where I’m an MP, or Worthing, it is the issue people want to talk about more than anything else. Some people are really scared. I was talking to one woman and I asked her what was happening with her taxes, and she said: ‘I don’t know because I’m too scared to look’ and it is the same with energy bills as well.”
Chancellor Rishi Sunak shared his Spring statement – a sort of mini budget – with Parliament last week.
It brought in a temporary cut to fuel duty and a change to income tax and the national insurance threshold (among other measures).
But Ms Reeves said this ‘is not enough’ and called for a windfall tax on oil and gas producers which could then be used to support those struggling to pay their bills.
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