Ulster deal ‘killed off’ fuel VAT cut
HARD-PRESSED UK households were denied the abolition of VAT on fuel bills because the cut could not be implemented in Northern Ireland, it was claimed last night.
Senior Tory Sir Iain Duncan Smith blamed the post-Brexit Northern Ireland Protocol for killing off a tax cut potentially worth £100 a year for families facing rising bills.
He said: ‘This very Tory-friendly, tax-cutting idea was effectively ruled out because it could not take effect in Northern Ireland, where VAT rates on domestic fuel bills must still match EU levels.’
Sir Iain, a fellow of the Centre for Brexit Policy, said: ‘It is probably fair to say that if it wasn’t for the pernicious effects of the Protocol, every family in Britain could be £100 a year better off from scrapping VAT on fuel bills.’
However, Treasury sources insisted last night that that was not the reason Chancellor Rishi Sunak had chosen not to cut VAT.
They said an agreed £9 billion of aid for fuel bills ‘provides support to those who need it at the time they need it’.