‘Pasty tax’ idea cooks up protests

In this week’s Budget, Chancellor George Osborne said that he was looking at plans to add VAT to hot takeaway food from bakeries and supermarkets.

By closing the anomaly all food sold “above ambient temperature” would carry VAT – which could mean adding 50p to a £2.50 pasty – and hit the pasty industry in Cornwall hard.

Thousands of people have already joined a Facebook campaign urging the Government to rethink the plans and MPs told the House of Commons the move would undermine a sector worth millions to the county.

Cornwall councillor Alex Folkes, who set up the Say No To The Pasty Tax group on Facebook, said: “Plans by the Government to introduce VAT on hot takeaway food from bakeries and supermarkets will actually mean a ‘pasty tax’ which will cost Cornwall jobs.

“Cornwall is rightly proud of the pasty. But adding 20 per cent VAT to the price will inevitably see a drop in sales with no extra money going to the baker,” Mr Folkes, who is deputy Lib Dem leader on Cornwall Council, said.

“Lower sales will mean job losses in areas which cannot afford them,” added, saying of Ministers’ proposed consultation: “I hope that they are genuinely going to listen to what people say about the impact on the Cornish economy and that they decide that a pasty tax is a bad idea.”