Nearly a quarter of pubs, restaurants and cafes are loss making, the industry has warned potential new Prime Minister Andy Burnham.

The number of hospitality venues losing money has risen to 23 per cent, up from 15 per cent three months ago, according to the latest grim industry figures.

High costs mean that one in six businesses are at risk of closing in the next 12 months, prompting fresh calls from well-known chefs and small business owners for a VAT cut.

Operators have voiced concern over looming venue closures and the decimation of jobs for young people.

The industry’s plight was laid bare in new research produced by the British Institute of Innkeeping (BII), UKHospitality, the British Beer and Pub Association and HospitalityUlster.

Hospitality operators say they are struggling to make ends meet due to high costs ranging from energy, wages, National Insurance contributions, food, beer duty and business rates.

Many have slashed their operating hours and say they are unable to hire staff – particularly younger, less experienced workers – due to the high costs of labour.

Bringing the UK’s VAT rate in line with what is paid by businesses in the rest of Europe would help, they say.

Tom Kerridge, who is a familiar face on cooking television shows including Saturday Kitchen and Bake Off, is leading a new campaign calling on the next Government to cut VAT from 20 per cent to 10 per cent to help businesses avoid closures, job losses and price increases.

It comes as the Republic of Ireland will cut its VAT rate for hospitality from 13.5 per cent to 9 per cent from today (Wednesday 1 July).

Kerridge said: ‘Hospitality isn't employing at the minute, it's stagnating, it's moving backwards, it's closing down. Those jobs aren't there, and they're not available to young adults right now.’

The chef hopes that venues across the country will start putting up posters to raise awareness of UKHospitality’s ‘VAT’s The Problem’ campaign – to encourage customers to sign a petition.

He said he was optimistic that Andy Burnham – who has launched his bid to replace Keir Starmer as Prime Minister – would be supportive of the idea of a VAT cut.

‘We hope that he's going to understand the difficulties and maybe take a different perspective from the Cabinet we have currently got,’ Kerridge said.

Burnham has already pledged to cut business rates and said on Monday that High Streets could become ‘a symbol of Britain's renaissance.’

Greene King chief executive Nick Mackenzie said that a reduction would be 'a double win' as it would mean 'reversing a decline and also creating growth for the future'.

He said businesses have been discouraged from hiring young workers due to increases in wages and National Insurance – depriving many of their first jobs. 'That's how people get confidence, that's how people end up having a career in our sector. If you lose that, then society's losing out and the economy's losing out,' he added.

Eamonn England & Arina Piskunova, who run The Windsor Castle in north London and have just been awarded the BII’s award for the best licensees in Britain, say they now don’t open at lunchtime or on Mondays – as well as working more hours themselves.

And they are even turning down people coming into the pub asking for work, despite needing more hands on deck in the busier summer months.

‘They are looking for their kind of start, their step up, for that upskilling. We need it, and they need it, but it just doesn't equate for us. We can't afford it,’ said England.

The Government earlier this month said it would reduce the VAT rate to 5 per cent for children’s meals, family admissions to visitor attractions and children’s soft play between 25 June and 1 September.

But industry bosses say this must be extended more widely to other businesses and permanent change is needed.