§ Mr. Morganasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether, in view of the decrease in the tourist trade during 1979, he will consider the extension of the scheme, whereby value added tax paid by 420W foreign visitors for goods bought in shops may in certain cases be reclaimed, to payments made by foreign tourists in respect of hotel accommodation.
§ Mr. Peter ReesNo. VAT is a broad-based tax on consumer expenditure, and reliefs can be justified only on the most stringent criteria. It would not be appropriate to relieve the provision of hotel accommodation from VAT, whether such relief was general or was limited to accommodation used by foreign tourists. The intention of the retail export scheme is to relieve from VAT goods which are to be exported from this country.