Channel 5 star warns she’ll ‘stop hiring 18 year olds’ under Labour bombshell

The Channel 5 star behind a luxury Devon hotel has warned she may stop employing 18-year-olds if government plans to raise the minimum wage go ahead. Alex Polizzi, host of The Hotel Inspector, runs The Polizzi Collection, which includes Hotel Endsleigh near Tavistock in Devon, Hotel Tresanton in St Mawes in Cornwall and The Star in East Sussex.

But she has found herself in a “difficult” economic position and could face tough hiring decisions under bombshell Labour manifesto plans, she told The Travel Expert podcast.

“The government is now talking about putting up the minimum wage for 18-year-olds to the same level as 21-year-olds, which will be a disaster,” she said.

Labour’s manifesto featured a pledge to abolish “discriminatory age bands” and establish what it terms a ‘genuine’ living wage. But Polizzi has voiced significant concerns regarding the proposals, reports Devon Live.

“As far as I’m concerned, I will never be able to employ an 18-year-old again, because why would you employ someone fresh out of school at the same price as someone who has been out in the world for three years?”.

The government previously said insufficient pay undermines workers’ living standards, and its ‘Plan for Change’ seeks to boost household incomes while ensuring Britain’s lowest-paid workers obtain a “fair deal”. Polizzi, who has presented the Channel 5 show since 2008, also condemned the proposal for a tourist levy and has urged the government to “stop squeezing us until the pips squeak”.

Polizzi also revealed on the podcast she is “completely against” implementing a visitor charge.

“I have no belief at all that it would reduce VAT, and if you compare us with France, Italy and Germany, where VAT on hospitality is so much lower, you see that we’re losing out,” she said.

“The visitor numbers are immensely down. Part of that is because of the cost-of-living crisis, but a large part of that is also because we just have to keep putting prices up, because how else are we going to pay for these things?”.

Polizzi’s worries regarding a tourist levy have been echoed by Devon County Council, which has previously cautioned the charge could place “at risk” an industry it claims is worth over £1.6bn annually, with “disproportionate impacts” on coastal and rural areas.

“Such a policy would not simply affect visitors, but would directly impact Devon residents through reduced hours, job losses, and declining income for local businesses,” the council said.

“In areas such as Torbay, the South Hams, and East Devon towns including Sidmouth, Exmouth and Honiton, even a modest reduction in visitor numbers would have immediate and damaging economic consequences.”