Walk down any of London’s shopping streets today and you’ll notice something missing – not the designer shops or beautiful window displays, but the international tourists. The visitors who once spent freely in our stores, stayed in our hotels, dined in our restaurants and enriched the whole economy are no longer coming to our great city in the numbers we used to see. Many now bypass London entirely for Paris, Milan or Madrid. Those that do come are spending less than they used to. Why? Because the UK scrapped tax-free shopping.
This decision by the last government was one of the most self-defeating in recent memory. Since the abolition of VAT-free purchases for tourists in 2021, the UK has become the only major country in Europe which doesn’t offer VAT refunds to international visitors. And let me tell you the consequences are stark.
