Tory scrapped the scheme which allowed overseas visitors tax-free shopping when she was a Treasury minister
Peter Walker is a senior Guardian political correspondent at the Lib Dem conference in Brighton.
It is a brave person who tells John Curtice, the eminent political scientist and guru of British polling, that he doesn’t really understand modern politics, but that’s what Lisa Smart of the Liberal Democrats did at the party’s conference in Brighton.
How will the party get back to the 24% it won in 2010? I might gently suggest, Prof Curtice, that with winning 57 seats on 24% in 2010 and winning a record-breaking 72 seats on 12.2% of the vote in 2024, I know which one I prefer. I think John is asking the wrong question. We are not in two-party politics any more.
The decision to scrap the VAT refund scheme for international visitors in 2021 left the UK “less competitive” than many other European destinations as the country left the EU, the Tories said.
Badenoch, who personally announced the abolition of the VAT refund scheme when she was a Treasury minister in 2020, said retailers were being “let down by a policy that is driving their customers away.”
The Tories have pulled off a spectacular U-turn. Kemi Badenoch used to say tax-free shopping was a costly giveaway and now she’s trying to sell it as an economic miracle.
If they really think it’s such a great idea, they should explain why they scrapped it in the first place and how they’d pay for bringing it back.
The UK is one of the most-visited countries in the world with international tourism driving billions into our economy. We are supporting the continued growth of this industry and the government is working to meet our ambition to welcome 50 million international visitors a year to the UK by 2030.
Visitors can still claim VAT relief where the items purchased are shipped directly to their home country as exports.
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