British luxury brand urges chancellor to pursue ‘progressive policies’ in budget to increase spending sprees by foreigners
Bosses at Burberry have urged Rachel Reeves to reinstate a tax-free shopping scheme for tourists in the budget to “unlock further growth” and increase tourist spending.
Executives at the British luxury brand called on the chancellor to pursue “progressive policies” to boost shopping sprees from tourists, pointing specifically to a value-added tax (VAT) refund programme for foreigners that was scrapped five years ago.
Tax-free shopping was abolished at the end of 2020. The policy made a brief return under Liz Truss’s short-lived government in 2022 but was scrapped again weeks later by her successor as prime minister, Rishi Sunak.
Burberry said the UK had been losing out ever since, with shoppers from the US, Middle East and Asia apparently flocking to Paris and Milan rather than London for luxury goods.
