Hull MPs launch 'Stop the Caravan Tax' petition

Hull North MP Diana Johnson will be launching a cross-party Commons petition against the Coalition's Caravan Tax.

The proposal to levy 20% VAT on static caravans was in the Coalition's recent Budget and would cost thousands of jobs in East Yorkshire's caravan industry, their suppliers and from the wider UK holiday industry.

The Hull North MP is due to be joined on Saturday (28 April) from 2pm in Hull's Queen Victoria Square by former Deputy Prime Minister and Hull East MP Lord John Prescott, Hull West and Hessle MP Alan Johnson and Hull East MP Karl Turner.

It will be a major show of support for Hull and East Yorkshire's caravan industry.

Hull North MP Diana Johnson said: "This Commons petition against the Caravan Tax is part of our cross-party campaign, using every means at our disposal, to persuade Ministers to withdraw this unfair and destructive Tax.

"We're asking Hull people to get behind caravan workers and their fight for local jobs. Far more private sector jobs are at stake in the local caravan industry than at BAE Systems in Brough.

"We want to persuade the Coalition to withdraw the Caravan Tax - but even if they don't it can still be stopped. The Government's Commons majority on the issue was only 25 in the House last week. It only got carried by the 36 Lib Dem MPs who voted for the Caravan Tax. If 15 of those MPs who spoke so strongly in Graham Stuart's adjournment debate on Thursday evening switched their votes the Caravan Tax can be stopped. And it needs to be stopped as soon as possible.

"It's been shocking that Ministers have seemed so obsessed by the relatively minor issue of how the VAT system treats different types of caravans and holiday homes. They've been oblivious to the more crucial issue of risking thousands of jobs in and around Hull at caravan firms, their suppliers and in the wider UK holiday industry. They also have just not got the message that the Caravan Tax would lose the Government revenue overall."