Scrap tourist tax, urges Tory London mayoral contender

PAUL SCULLY, the Tory London mayoral candidate, has become the first minister to support scrapping the tourist tax.

The frontbencher, who formally announced his candidacy yesterday, admitted he had struggled to “hold the line” on the 20 per cent sales levy charged to all non-british visitors.

Mr Scully, the science, industry and technology minister, urged Jeremy Hunt to model the benefits of Vat-free shopping and said that the policy was costing London hundreds of millions in sales. “I’ve been campaigning within government, clearly, as a minister of collective responsibility,” he told LBC’S Nick Ferrari.

“But there are a few little areas where I struggle to hold the line, shall we say, and this is one. Because [some] people see this as luxury brands and big shops getting a tax rebate. It’s millions of pounds, hundreds of millions pounds of lost revenue to this country.”

Mr Scully went on to argue people were “going to Milan, going to Paris, rather than coming to London” in order to avoid paying the additional fee.

“What I’ve asked the Treasury to do is instead of seeing it as a cost of lost revenue, the static modelling, they just see it [as] £2 billion they’re going to lose. Do some dynamic modelling, see what the behaviours change as a result of restoring Vat-free shopping. What they’ll find is they get more money, as a result, in revenue and tax.”

Asked about Mr Scully’s remarks, a No10 spokesman said Mr Scully was “speaking on a specific issue”, while continuing to speak on behalf of the Government as one of its ministers.

Pressed on whether Mr Sunak’s view on the tax had changed, he insisted tax policy was a matter for Jeremy Hunt as Chancellor and that such decisions would be taken “in the usual way”.

A new digitised version of Vatfree shopping for tourists was among policies supported by Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng in their short-lived mini-budget.

Alongside his science brief, Mr Scully has also been the minister for London since February 2020, serving under three successive prime ministers, but has recused himself from this role during the mayoral race.

Elsewhere in the interview, he suggested he would have the confidence of Boris Johnson.

“I know he’s got every faith in me,” he said. “I don’t want to speak for him and give him a virtual endorsement. But, as I say, I served in his government… I know he’ll have faith in me.”