Ministers often stress that they are here to listen to business. A good place to start would be to axe the tourist tax on foreign shoppers before yet further damage is done to the capital’s global reputation — and economy.
The Evening Standard has long led the campaign against scrapping VAT-free shopping by the then chancellor, now Prime Minister, in January 2021. This decision instantly made it 20 per cent more expensive for foreign visitors to shop in London. And it represents a classic false economy — it made the capital more expensive and diverted high-spending tourists to other European cities.
