Westminster Conservatives have welcomed Kemi Badenoch’s commitment that the next Conservative government will restore VAT-free shopping for international visitors, a change the West End’s retail, hospitality and hotel sectors have been calling for since the scheme was scrapped in 2021.
The party estimates the pledge will attract up to 2.35 million additional visitors and generate £4.1 billion in extra spending.
Britain is currently the only major shopping destination in Europe that denies international visitors a tax refund, leaving London competing for the same shoppers as Paris and Milan with one hand tied behind its back.
Mrs Badenoch said:
“Five years of sending shoppers to Paris or Milan is more than enough. Britain should be a magnet for tourists who want to spend, not a country that tells them to take their money elsewhere.”
More than 500 business leaders have backed the campaign to restore the scheme, among them the bosses of Fortnum & Mason, Paul Smith and the parent company of Claridge’s. Labour’s Mayor of London has also urged the Government to bring tax-free shopping back, calling the decision to scrap it a huge mistake.
Nowhere in the country has more at stake than Westminster. The West End is home to the highest concentration of retail, hospitality and hotel jobs anywhere in the UK, and Westminster welcomes an estimated 800,000 visitors every day.
Cllr Paul Swaddle OBE, Leader of Westminster City Council, said:
“The West End is one of the great shopping destinations of the world, and it has spent five years fighting with one hand tied behind its back. Every visitor who flies to Paris or Milan instead of London is money that never reaches our shops, our restaurants and our hotels, and jobs that never get created. Kemi is right to commit to putting this straight, and Westminster’s businesses will be glad someone is finally listening to them.”
The announcement stands in sharp contrast to Labour’s decision this month to introduce a new levy on overnight hotel stays across mayoral authorities. Westminster’s position on that levy remains clear: if such a tax is to be introduced at all, at least 50 per cent of the revenue must stay with the local councils that provide the services visitors rely on, from clean and safe streets to waste collection and street management. Cllr Swaddle has launched a petition calling on the Mayor of London to commit to exactly that.
