Posts tagged "Lobbying"
VAT-free shopping doesn't generate £2.6bn of tax - it creates a £600m loss
28 September 2026 Analysis

A £2.6bn lobbyist fairytale: economic consultancy Cebr sold VAT-free shopping as a tax cut that pays for itself

The retail lobby wants tourists to be able to claim a VAT refund for their UK shopping. So they commissioned Cebr to produce a report claiming it would deliver a multi-billion pound boost to the Exchequer. It convinced Sadiq Khan and Kemi Badenoch. But we rebuilt their model and found four fatal errors – once […]
Title page of the UK Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014: Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Act 2014
16 February 2024 Analysis

The loophole that enables secret lobbying by foreign companies

Brooks Newmark & Co Ltd, run by former Conservative MP Brooks Newmark, lobbied for foreign PPE suppliers during the pandemic, but didn’t register under the Lobbying Act. It turns out this was entirely legal, thanks to a serious mistake in the drafting of the Act. This has created a loophole which means that lobbyists acting […]

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