Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect of increasing the VAT threshold so that small businesses complying with the new national minimum wage can continue to operate below the VAT threshold.

The Government has chosen to maintain the highest VAT registration threshold in the EU (set at £82,000 from 1 April 2015). The Government may not increase this threshold further, aside from maintaining its value in line with inflation, without the consent of the European Commission and the unanimous agreement of all EU Member States.