Pro-Brexit Wetherspoon boss Tim Martin attacks Remainers after pub chain's profits plummet

The boss of the JD Wetherspoon pub chain has used a half-year earnings report to attack the anti-Brexit “establishment” after company profits plummeted 19 per cent.

Tim Martin said the chain, which operates more than 900 pubs, has seen pre-tax profits drop to £50.3m in the six months to January.

Although revenue increased 7.1 per cent to £889.6m, it was not enough to offset a sharp rise in labour costs following a pay rise for staff in November.

Higher utility bills and maintenance costs also contributed to the fall in profits.

Mr Martin, an outspoken Brexiteer, called for MPs to reject Theresa May’s deal and refuse any option to remain in the EU as he addressed the chain’s profits in the half-year earnings report.

“The result has been a barrage of negative economic forecasts from those quarters, predicting that the UK will go to hell in a handcart without a ‘deal’ with the EU — which will effectively tie the country into EU membership and taxation, yet without representation,” he said.

“The doomsters ignore the most powerful nexus in economics, between democracy and prosperity — and the fact that the EU is becoming progressively less democratic, as it pursues an ‘ever-closer union’, for which there is no public consensus.”

He added: “Previous referendum results on major constitutional issues have always been respected in the UK, but if parliament votes either for Theresa May’s ‘deal’ (which keeps us in the EU by the back door) or to remain in the EU, the referendum result will not have been respected.

“This may well have significant adverse economic consequences, as the country turns in on itself to endure months, or years, of stifling constitutional argument.”

Mr Martin is currently touring Wetherspoon pubs across the country, speaking to punters about why he believes a no-deal Brexit would be Britain’s best option.

The pub chain has also announced plans to replace champagne and prosecco with sparkling wines from outside the EU. Wheat beer and alcohol-free beer from Germany, which is currently stocked by the chain, will be substituted with UK-brewed products.