‘Pasty tax’ protesters to deliver petition to Downing Street
Protesters against the VAT imposed on hot takeaway foods are to deliver a petition to Downing Street
OPPONENTS of the pasty tax are to deliver a petition to number 10 today with the aim of reversing the imposition of 20% VAT on hot food, reports the Financial Times.
Approximately 500,000 signatures have been collected by the protest’s organisers, the National Association of Master Bakers and Greggs, Britain’s largest retail baker.
It is expected that around 500 bakers and supporters will meet for a protest rally first, handing out savouries to passers-by, before Ken McKeikan and Richard Hutton, chief executive and finance director of Greggs, and Mark Muncie, chairman of the Cornish Pasty Association deliver the petition to Downing Street.
Original plans to march to number 10 from Pudding Lane have been ditched after the Metropolitan Police warned it may attract anarchists.
Opponents of the 20% levy on hot takeaway foods say it is unworkable, will harm the poor and imperil small bakeries.
Two HM Revenue & Customs officials visited a bakery near Whitehall yesterday to see how quickly the baked products cooled “ambient air temperature”. The shop said the officials were attentive, but did not eat anything.