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Tories pledge to reverse Labour's holiday homes raid: Watch as David Cameron faces Yorkshire Post readers
A £20M tax raid on holiday homes would be reversed under the Tories, party leader David Cameron has pledged.
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Seeking to present himself as a champion of British tourism, Mr Cameron told Yorkshire Post readers the Government was "cutting off its nose to spite its face" by forcing through the measure next month. The move threatens 4,500 jobs and research suggests it will cost the economy 200m.
Shadow Chancellor George Osborne has already revealed the Tories would reverse the impact of removing tax breaks from people who let out self-catering accommodation, and were working with tax and legal experts to find the best way.
Mr Cameron gave his support to the tourism industry as he became the first of the three major party leaders to face an audience of Yorkshire Post readers.
During Mr Cameron's hour-long session he also accused Labour of being "embarrassed" about Britain's heritage and said he would do more to promote the country overseas.
He pledged to install a strong Tourism Minister after criticising Labour's conveyer belt of junior Ministers given little authority to champion the industry, which is worth 6.3bn a year to the Yorkshire economy.
He said: "What I can promise you is, I think it is a very important strategic industry for Britain," he said. "I want to have a strong Tourism Minister and I want to give him or her their proper place and give them the chance to get on and do the job rather than endlessly chopping and changing." He added: "Our heritage is hugely important and it's one of the reasons people come here and we need a government that understands that and speaks up for it."
Small businesses immediately welcomed the tax pledge, which is also a success for this newspaper's Give Tourism a Break campaign. Firms said it could save 80 per cent of small holiday businesses from going bust.
And the chairman of Welcome to Yorkshire, Gary Verity, said: "Anything that can be done to support the industry at a time when it needs support has got to be welcomed. In the meantime we'll continue to lobby Ministers to see what may still be possible to avert these changes taking place."
The Government has blamed European law for removing the tax breaks from April 1, because people who own properties on the continent do not get the same benefit. The Tories accuse Labour of simply spotting an opportunity to bring in extra money without understanding the consequences.
Tourism experts have warned that the changes, which the Treasury has claimed would mainly hit well-off second home owners, would affect self-catering accommodation owners, of whom there are 2,500 in Yorkshire alone. Research has also shown that the economic impact would be far worse than Treasury predictions.
The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) said that while furnished holiday homes currently have to be available to rent for at least 20 weeks of the year and must be rented out for 10 weeks, raising the eligibility threshold would ensure commercial self-catering properties could carry on benefiting from tax breaks.
Shadow Chancellor Mr Osborne has said he would find a way of reversing the tax change without cost and is considering proposals to better target the tax breaks so those who rent accommodation out for more of the year benefit. "Unlike the current government, we will take action to support British tourism," said Mr Osborne, who also proposed setting up a marketing fund to attract visitors to the UK in time for the London Olympics.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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