Sacha Lord launches campaign to stop planned VAT rise

Lord, who is the  night time economy advisor for Greater Manchester, has dubbed the planned VAT hike a 'Red Wall Tax', and is calling on people to take action by writing to their local MP and voicing their opposition to it on social media using the hashtag #AxeRedWallTax.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak cut the rate of VAT for hospitality businesses to 5% in July 2020 following the first national lockdown.

This rose to an intermediate rate of 12.5% in October this year, despite concerns voiced by the sector; and is scheduled to return to its original rate of 20% at the beginning of the next financial year on 1 April 2022.

Lord says that should the rise go ahead as planned, it will force some operators out of business and create up to 120,000 job losses across the sector. 

"Hospitality has been the sector hit hardest by the pandemic, losing £80.8bn in the first 12 months of the pandemic," writes Lord on the #AxeRedWallTax campaign page.

"Even now its revenue is still almost a third lower than it was before the Covid-19 pandemic struck. Leading hospitality sector bodies, including UKHospitality and British Beer and Pub Association, are calling for the Government to shelve plans to introduce a second VAT rise in April 2022 as the sector is not yet strong enough to cope with the pressures that this will bring.

"This tax rise will have a disproportionate impact on people living in Red Wall constituencies (which have a higher proportion of hospitality businesses than the national average), will hurt the poorest 10% three times more than it will hurt the richest 10%, and risks derailing hospitality's ability to contribute to the UK's recovery."

"Our campaign will spread the word about yet another planned tax rise on working people and build a movement fit to fight future tax rises."

To find out more about the #AxeRedWallTax, click here​​.