Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves tours Bradford brewery

Ms Reeves met with Anna Dixon, Labour Parliamentary candidate for the Shipley constituency, and the Shadow Chancellor was given a tour of the business by Nadir Zaire, managing director of Salt Beer Factory.

Ms Reeves, who is also the MP for Leeds West, said: "It was great talking with Nadir today and seeing the growth of this business. It is a massive success story.

Nadir Zaire gives a tour of Salt Beer Factory to Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Image: Newsquest)

"But with inflation as it is, businesses like this are finding it difficult to pass costs on to consumers."

During the tour, Mr Zaire explained to Ms Reeves how the beers are brewed and he shared concerns about issues impacting the brewing industry.

When asked about how the energy crisis is affecting his business, Mr Zaire said: "The energy crisis is not the biggest issue we're facing.

Nadir Zaire gives a tour of Salt Beer Factory to Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Image: Newsquest)

"The brewery industry is a highly taxed industry," he explained.

"That's where the challenge is for any brewery. We're also being hit from everywhere with problems on the supply chain.

"It's a challenging environment but we are growing."

Speaking about how he established Salt Beer Factory, Mr Zaire told Ms Reeves: "We wanted to build a brewery experience.

"As this area falls into the UNESCO World Heritage Site, we can't expand our business outside, but what we have works really well for us."

Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves at Salt Beer Factory (Image: Newsquest)

Ms Reeves said: "I want Britain to be the best place to grow a business and this business is a great example of that.

"I want to reform a system of government that is penalising small businesses and I want to help businesses like breweries thrive.

"Labour want a windfall tax on big energy giants, some of which have recently had record profits.

"With a windfall tax in place on big companies, this could help people and small businsesses.

"The huge spike in the energy crisis was caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

"While energy giants are making astronomical profits from the windfalls of war, families and pensioners are struggling with the cost of living crisis so that's where our priority should be.

"We also need to reform the system of business rates and make sure that start-up businesses have access to what they need to get their businesses off the ground."