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 […]
