Finance (No. 4) Bill

Debate between Nadhim Zahawi and Stephen Gilbert

Wednesday 18th April 2012 Commons Chamber

[Stephen Gilbert]

The hon. Lady makes an accurate point. Pasty producers tell me that they are already feeling the squeeze. They are feeling the same pressures as us all through fuel costs and so on. They simply do not feel that they can reduce the net price and therefore absorb that extra 20% so there are serious concerns that it will add problems to an already damaged industry.

The Government’s change is supposed to be about simplification and replacing the subjective test of the purpose of selling the pasty under the current VAT rules with a much simpler test, but in fact we are only replacing one set of anomalies with another. VAT will be charged if the pasty is bought hot but not if it is bought cold. Will we have an army of HMRC inspectors going around with their standard issue thermometers and testing pasties?

[Nadhim Zahawi]

In my constituency, the Subway franchisee sells cold sandwiches without VAT and must charge VAT when the sandwiches are heated. Spudulike has to charge VAT. The idea that when one serves hot food one has to charge VAT—even in the chip shop in Stratford—is only about levelling the playing field—