Battersea boss warns Britain ‘cannot be complacent’ about its appeal to international visitors and ‘risks shooting itself in the foot’ if it does not act on calls to bring back ‘tourist tax’

• MPs will debate calls to bring back VAT-free shopping for foreign travellers

Britain ‘cannot be complacent’ about its appeal to international visitors amid the row over the ‘tourist tax’, the boss of Battersea Power Station has said.

MPs will debate calls to bring back VAT-free shopping for foreign travellers this week following widespread anger at Rishi Sunak’s decision to axe it in 2021.

Tourists are shunning London for rival cities such as Paris and Lisbon to spend their money due to the levy, business leaders have warned.

Simon Murphy, who runs the Battersea Power Station Development Company, said the ‘tourist tax’ had made Britain’s capital less competitive in attracting visitors away from its European neighbours.

‘The UK cannot be complacent about our international appeal in this increasingly competitive world and we do risk shooting ourselves in the foot by not acting,’ Mr Murphy told The Sunday Telegraph.

MPs will debate calls to bring back VAT-free shopping for foreign travellers this week following widespread anger at Rishi Sunak’s decision to axe it in 2021. Rishi Sunak is pictured during a visit to the Great British Beer Festival at Olympia, in London on Tuesday

Simon Murphy, who runs the Battersea Power Station Development Company, said the ‘tourist tax’ had made Britain’s capital less competitive in attracting visitors away from its European neighbours. Pictured: Battersea Power Station

Battersea Power Station in south-west London reopened last October as a retail destination, and bosses hope it will be a lure to both foreign and British shoppers.

Dozens of MPs and peers have backed the Mail’s ‘Scrap the Tourist Tax’ campaign and a 90-minute Westminster Hall debate is set to be held on the issue on Thursday.

This means the Treasury will have to formally respond to the campaign, which was launched by hotelier Sir Rocco Forte, and has been backed by more than 350 prominent companies, including Burberry, Harrods and Marks & Spencer.

Officials working for Chancellor Jeremy Hunt have been asked to find evidence of the ‘wider economic impact’ of the 2021 change, which meant tourists could not reclaim 20 per cent in VAT on their purchases.

Tax-free shopping would add billions more to the economy and support 78,000 jobs, according to research by Oxford Economics.

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