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Badenoch pledges to bring back tax-free shopping for tourists
Business leaders backed the plan as pro-growth, while VisitBritain said visitor spending remains 8% below pre-pandemic levels.
- Kemi Badenoch pledged to restore tax-free shopping for visitors, reversing a post-Brexit rule change scrapped in 2021. Mrs Badenoch argued the move would help Britain compete globally and support retailers losing customers to rival destinations.
- The Government scrapped the VAT refund scheme in 2021, leaving Britain "less competitive" than European destinations, according to the Tories. Retailers claim the policy change is driving visitors away and damaging small manufacturers across Britain.
- Business chiefs from Fortnum & Mason and Paul Smith hailed the pledge as "pro-growth" and "pro-jobs." VisitBritain estimates show visitor numbers have returned to near pre-Covid levels, yet real-terms spending remains 8% lower than before the pandemic.
- Labour accused the Tories of a "spectacular U-turn" regarding the policy. To offset costs, the Tories proposed a "crackdown" on "health tourism," including stricter charging for ineligible patients in Britain.
- Tax-Free shopping could eventually cover European visitors, with rollout complete by the end of the next Parliament. The Government aims to welcome 50 million international visitors to Britain annually by 2030.
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Labour Refuses to Attack Tory Tax-Free Shopping Policy
Labour has avoided an attack on the Tories’ new policy to restore tax-free shopping for foreigners. Was the government considering it itself… Sunak as Chancellor scrapped the VAT Retail Export Scheme for non-EU visitors in 2021. It is now Tory policy to bring back the relief for non-EU visitors and extend that to EU visitors…
·London, United Kingdom
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources21
Leaning Left3Leaning Right1Center9Last UpdatedBias Distribution69% Center
Bias Distribution
- 69% of the sources are Center
69% Center
L 23%
C 69%
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