Brighton Pier Group chairman Luke Johnson has warned that confidence among UK employers and investors has reached a historic low.
Brighton Pier Group’s Luke Johnson, the former chairman of PizzaExpress and a director of bakery chain Gail’s, believes the UK has hit ground zero when it comes to confidence levels.
During an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Johnson delivered a stinging assessment of the fears currently eroding the business sector at all levels of the economy. “The government is making it more expensive and riskier to employ people, and so I think entrepreneurs and managers will not create the jobs,” Johnson said. “The mood among employers and those who invest in this country is the darkest I have ever seen.”
Johnson also defended lower pay rates for younger workers.
“If someone is less experienced and less well trained than someone who has been doing the job for a while, they are not necessarily going to be as productive,” he explained, adding that the timing of the planned minimum wage rise was a “tragedy” for young people, predicting a “substantial rise in unemployment”.
Ministers are reportedly considering delaying Labour’s election pledge to increase the wages of 18 to 20-year-olds so they are paid the same as those over 21. New job figures confirmed young people are the most likely to struggle in the job market, with 16 percent of people aged 16 to 24 unemployed compared with a national average of 5 percent.
Dark days
Luke Johnson said… “The mood among employers and those who invest in this country is the darkest I have ever seen…
Originally published on Coinslot on March 2, 2026. Republished with permission.