Burnham is set to hand mayors the power to charge families an unlimited tourist tax on UK holidays. With no national cap on how high any greedy local leader can set it…
The ‘overnight visitor levy’ – hello again to ‘levy’, the traditional voodoo word for ‘tax’ – will apply to hotels, B&Bs, and holiday lets. Hospitality bosses were briefed this week that England will likely follow the Scottish model, where there is no ceiling. This was actually a policy Rachel Reeves always resisted, with Angela Rayner its biggest proponent. Reeves has been kicked to the curb. And Angela Rayner is in ‘Number 10 North’ today to finesse the raid’s details…
UK Hospitality estimates rolling that out across England is a £1.6 billion raid that adds £100 to a typical family break. Whacking a sector that has already lost more than 100,000 jobs since Labour took office…
Former Treasury minister and adviser to Burnham in the Makerfield campaign Lord Jim O’Neill, who has turned down a role in his government, said Burnham’s first statement Commons was:
“The last thing investors wanted to hear… gilt yields have risen by a 0.25% in one day, which is a lot. We’ve not had that since Liz Truss days… If your country is under the focus of ‘can they come up with a sensible fiscal strategy’ on a day when the markets think ‘well no, you’re not showing any sign of it’ you’re going to have a tough day…if it stays like this your mortgage rate is going up.”