Kent brewer and pub owner Shepherd Neame has joined a campaign to slash Vat on pubs and other hospitality outlets as a way of creating 300,000 jobs.

The 300-year old Faversham-based business says a cut to 5% in Vat on food, drink and accommodation would boost investment and employment for young people.

The campaign - launched ahead of the Chancellor’s March 21 Budget - is led by French leisure entrepreneur Jacques Borel.

It has been given £240,000 of funding by the Independent Family Brewers of Britain representing private family-run brewers like Shepherd Neame.

They believe that cutting Vat to 5% in the UK hospitality sector would create up to 320,000 jobs, many of them in the 16 to 24-year-old age group which has been hardest hit by the jobs crisis, with more than a million now on the dole.

Shepherd Neame chief executive Jonathan Neame said: "A reduction in Vat will stimulate jobs and investment in local and rural communities. This approach has already created jobs in Germany, Belgium, Sweden and France and we think it will work here.

"Each pub contributes an average of £80,000 to its local economy each year but licensees are struggling because they are hampered by excessive tax increases and legislation."

Hospitality and tourism sectors would create jobs "relatively quickly and at relatively low cost."