Reeves could allow holiday tax on English hotel and Airbnb stays
British holidaymakers could have to pay a nightly tax on hotel stays and Airbnb-style visits in plans expected to be announced by Rachel Reeves in the budget next week.The chancellor is reportedly preparing to give mayors powers to raise taxes by charging tourists on the cost of an overnight stay in their cities.The tax could raise hundreds of millions of pounds for mayors to invest in transport and public services, but it would represent a further blow for the hospitality industry, which was squeezed by tax rises and extra employment costs announced in the last budget.The trade body UKHospitality, which represents thousands of restaurants, hotels and pubs, said a tourism tax of 5% – the rate to be set by Edinburgh from next July – would mean an effective consumer tax of 27%.That figure includes standard 20% VAT on the hotel stay, as well as VAT on the holiday tax itself, making it one of the highest tourist tax rates in Europe, the trade body said.
It estimated that a 5% holiday tax would cost Britons £518m in additional costs.Kate Nicholls, the chair of UKHospitality, said: “I know the government is worried about the cost of living, but this holiday tax is little more than a higher VAT rate for holidaymakers.“Brits take more than 89m overnight trips in England, and stay for a total of 255m nights.This is a bill we will all have to pay, and will only serve to ramp up prices and drive inflation.”Government sources told the Times, which first reported Reeves’s plan, that England was an outlier among developed countries for not having a tourism tax.
The levy is also being introduced by the devolved Scottish and Welsh governments,The changes will be introduced using amendments to the English devolution and community empowerment bill, the Times reported,The legislation is going through parliament,This summer a coalition of mayors across England – including the London mayor Sadiq Khan and the Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – wrote a letter to the culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, and Reeves urging the government to introduce a visitor levy,They argued that a £1 to £5 a night levy in Greater Manchester would raise between £8m and £40m a year, which could help fund infrastructure projects such as the regeneration of Old Trafford or airport development.
Sign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningafter newsletter promotionEdinburgh is poised to become the first city in Scotland to introduce a tourist tax at 5% next July, after the Scottish parliament passed a law last year granting councils the power to implement their own visitor levies,In Wales, councils will have the power to charge £1,30 a person a night tax for most accommodation from April 2027,The chancellor is also expected to introduce a “milkshake tax” in the 26 November budget by ending the exemption that milk-based drinks have from the sugar tax, which had been mooted earlier this year,The soft drinks industry tax applies to drinks such as Coca-Cola and Irn-Bru.
Producers pay at least 18p a litre on soft drinks containing 5g or more of sugar for each 100ml.This threshold could also drop to 4g for each 100ml, in a change that could raise between £50m and £100m.A Treasury spokesperson said: “We do not comment on budget speculation.The budget later this month will build stronger foundations to secure Britain’s future and focus on the priorities of working people: cutting waiting lists, cutting the national debt and cutting the cost of living.”
GWR train fitted with F1 tech for two-month superfast wifi trial
Train wifi in the UK, long a source of frustration for passengers, is about to get radically faster – for a lucky few at least.A two-month trial has begun on one Great Western Railway (GWR) train, fitted with technology from Formula One that switches between the signals from 5G masts to low Earth-orbit satellites to provide almost seamless, superfast wifi.For now, only one of GWR’s 57 intercity express trains will have a connection good enough to deliver a Netflix series to the seat. However, a successful trial and the promise of lower costs could spell a wider rollout to the rest of the mainline railway by 2030.On a test run from London Paddington to Newbury and back, the Guardian found the wifi fast and reliable enough to video call editors at the office, catch up on old Match of the Days on iPlayer and listen to songs on YouTube at the same time, with only occasional blips and pixelation
TotalEnergies buys €5.1bn stake in Czech tycoon’s power plants business
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AI firms must be clear on risks or repeat tobacco’s mistakes, says Anthropic chief
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How Google’s DeepMind tool is ‘more quickly’ forecasting hurricane behavior
When then Tropical Storm Melissa was churning south of Haiti, Philippe Papin, a National Hurricane Center (NHC) meteorologist, had confidence it was about to grow into a monster hurricane.As the lead forecaster on duty, he predicted that in just 24 hours the storm would become a category 4 hurricane and begin a turn towards the coast of Jamaica. No NHC forecaster had ever issued such a bold forecast for rapid strengthening.But Papin had an ace up his sleeve: artificial intelligence in the form of Google’s new DeepMind hurricane model – released for the first time in June. And, as predicted, Melissa did become a storm of astonishing strength that tore through Jamaica
England sweating over fitness of Ollie Lawrence for Argentina match
England are sweating on the fitness of Ollie Lawrence before their final autumn clash with Argentina this weekend.Lawrence starred on Saturday in the statement victory against the All Blacks but limped off in the closing stages and could be forced to sit out the match against the Pumas on Sunday. The 26-year-old centre will be assessed when England reconvene on Tuesday after an extra day off but if Lawrence is ruled out it would be a blow for Steve Borthwick.The England head coach may also be without Freddie Steward, who was withdrawn midway through the first half against New Zealand with a head injury, as he prepares for England’s pursuit of an 11th successive victory and a clean sweep of their autumn fixtures.Lawrence was in fine form against the All Blacks, scoring England’s opening try before teeing up centre partner Fraser Dingwall in the second half
Sean Bowen, jump jockey great who can’t buy a winner at the Cheltenham festival
Mike Trout is 34 years old, weighs 235lb and plays baseball for the Los Angeles Angels. Sean Bowen is 28, tips the scales at around 140lb and is the reigning champion jockey over jumps. At first sight, they do not have a great deal in common besides both being professional athletes (and even then, Trout earns more in a fortnight than Bowen can ever hope to bank in a year).But when you break down what they do and, above all, when they do it, there are some distinct similarities.Trout is widely recognised as the greatest baseball player of his generation, consistently putting up numbers during the six-month, 162-game regular that put him among the all-time greats
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