Ministers urged to let EU visitors shop tax-free
A new paper from the Association of International Retail (AIR), an independent industry body, has urged the government to reverse the 2021 decision to scrap VAT rebates for tourists — a move widely criticised by business leaders as a 'tourist tax'.
The submission, delivered to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, argues that Brexit created a unique chance for Britain to offer tax-free shopping to both non-EU and EU visitors, unlocking a vast new market of 450 million potential shoppers.
'With Britain no longer in the EU, we have the opportunity to become the best place in the world for shopping,' said Derrick Hardman, the chair of AIR.
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The Independent
a minute ago
- The Independent
Putin is living on borrowed time – and this is when the clock stops ticking
Vladimir Putin is living on borrowed time – at least if Donald Trump keeps his word and follows through on the threat he made last week to crash Russia 's economy if there is no ceasefire within 50 days. Over the last three years, 18 announcements of European Union sanctions have failed to make much of an economic dent in the Kremlin's war machine. That is because, despite its rhetoric around support for Ukraine, Europe still keeps the money flooding into Moscow. Russia is still its third-largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG), and it increased its imports from Russia by 25 per cent in 2024. If Trump went ahead and imposed his threatened secondary sanctions on countries importing Russian oil, gas and uranium – a customer list headed by China, India, and the EU itself – then Putin would quickly find himself running out of money. Yet somehow, the Russian leader does not seem to be quaking in his boots. If anything, he seems to be upping the ante. Despite Trump's threats to impose sanctions that could cripple the Russian economy, Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday morning that more than 420 drones and at least 20 missiles, including ballistic missiles, had been fired at cities and communities across Ukraine in waves of intense overnight attacks. While the UK defence secretary John Healey has used a meeting of the European Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) to back Trump's proposal and pledge that the UK will 'play our full part in its success to bolster Ukraine's immediate fight', Putin clearly does not take Trump's threat remotely seriously. Indeed, Russia's president hasn't deigned to comment on Trump's latest threats at all – and nor has Russia's state-controlled media given Trump's threat any serious airtime. The capital markets also barely twitched after the US president threatened to unleash a global trade war directed at Russia. Trump's sweeping new sanctions would, in theory, deprive the world of the 5 million barrels of oil a day that Russia exports – yet the price of crude did not move an inch. There are three sound reasons why Putin believes that Trump's words are hollow and feels he can confidently call his bluff. One is that Trump has barely implemented any of the punitive tariffs that he has threatened against most of the world over the last six months. An executive order Trump signed in March imposing 25 per cent tariffs on countries importing Venezuelan oil, for instance, has yet to be implemented. Then there's the question of the economic damage to the US itself if Trump actually followed through. Levelling 100 per cent tariffs against China, India, Turkey, Belgium, Spain and other major importers of Russian oil would quickly bring the world economy to a juddering halt. It would also wreck Washington's relationship with Delhi and force India and China into a closer partnership. Cutting off Europe from Russian oil and gas would trigger immediate economic chaos. Finally, actually imposing an effective embargo on Russian oil would take more than 10 per cent of world supply off the markets and precipitate a serious 1973-style price shock that would send energy costs through the roof and pitch the US and Europe into recession. You can see why Putin is hedging that it is inconceivable that Trump would pay that kind of price simply for ending what the American president often describes as 'a war that should never have happened'. Putin may be safe from Trump's secondary sanctions. However, that does not mean that his economy is in good shape. 'The remarkable resurgence the Russian economy has experienced since Putin's invasion of Ukraine is losing momentum,' observes Alexander Kolyandr, a senior fellow at the Centre for European Policy Analysis. 'The party is over.' For the first two years of the war, state spending on the military fuelled a runaway 4.3 per cent GDP growth rate. That's set to fall to a much more modest 1.4 per cent in 2025. For the first time in years, Russia has begun running a fiscal deficit of some 1.5 per cent of GDP. And most seriously of all, global oil prices have fallen a precipitous 35 per cent this year. As a result, Russia's Central Bank is set to print 15 trillion roubles (£142bn) in cash come October – the largest issuance since the hyperinflation of the 1990s, according to internal documents leaked by Ukrainian hackers. By winter, Russia may face a looming inflation shock. Pro-Ukrainian online warriors have gleefully shared videos of Russian holidaymakers sleeping on the floors of airports shut down because of drone threats, and angry passengers complaining that they have missed their onward flight to Venice. Yet interrupted luxury holidays don't really stack up against the near-nightly horrors that ordinary Ukrainians face as Russia steps up the intensity and frequency of its drone attacks. And while Russia's economy may face structural challenges, Russians are still managing to buy more luxury German cars than the Germans are. Car Industry Analysis reports that BMW sold 3,504 of its latest X7 SUVs in Russia in 2024 – compared to 3,323 in Germany. That's despite sanctions, which force importers to go via former Soviet neighbours, bumping the price to Russian consumers from $87,000 (£64,000) to $170,000 (£126,000). Putin, evidently, remains set on pursuing his obsession with subjugating Ukraine, apparently at any cost. This spring, Trump brusquely railroaded Zelensky into dropping most of Kyiv's red lines in pursuit of a ceasefire deal that would effectively have left Putin in undisputed control of the 22 per cent of Ukrainian territory he has already occupied. But Putin rejected that peace deal and still continued to demand regime change in Kyiv, plus a promise that Ukraine would never join Nato and restrictions on the size of the country's army. The polls suggest that the number of ordinary Russians who agree with their leader's dogged obsession is dwindling. According to a study by Levada, Russia's last independent pollster, in June, 64 per cent of respondents favoured peace talks, which is six percentage points up since March. At the same time, the number of people who wanted the war to continue fell to 28 per cent, down from 34 per cent in March. While there has been little to no sign of popular discontent with the regime, there is evidence that infighting among Russia's elites over cash flow and state resources is intensifying. Earlier this month, recently sacked minister of transport Roman Starovoit shot himself, becoming the latest high-ranking Russian to die in suspicious circumstances. A number of prominent individuals, including government officials, military officers and prominent businessmen, have now died in suspicious circumstances since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. For the time being, as long as the oil and gas money continues coming in, Putin faces no serious opposition to his rule. But it's also clear that there is no way that Russia can achieve the military and political subjugation of Ukraine of which Putin dreams. The war has been a colossal strategic mistake for Russia, objectively weakening its geopolitical position and costing hundreds of thousands of lives. Trump's 50-day ticking clock may be a transparent bluff. But it is clear that Washington is losing patience with Putin's stalling, and is ready to tighten the economic screws in small ways – even if the economic nuclear bomb that is secondary sanctions remains a boastful fantasy. This means that Putin's room for manoeuvre is shrinking, and the time he has left to bring the war to an end is running out. Crucially, Trump is willing to permit the Kremlin to keep its territorial winnings, which will in turn allow Putin to claim a kind of victory even as the majority of Ukraine remains independent and free. And it will mean that Trump, for all his flaws, might make good on his promise to end the war, if not in 24 hours, then at least within the first year of his presidency. Putin, meanwhile, must decide how much more blood is to be shed before he cuts his losses.
The Independent
a minute ago
- The Independent
Some 52% of people ‘have recently been somewhere refusing or discouraging cash'
More than three-quarters (76%) of people believe it is important to have the option to pay with cash and four-fifths (82%) think all shops should accept it, a survey has found. More than half (52%) of people said they had been somewhere during the previous two months that had not accepted or had discouraged the use of cash – and 56% said this was an inconvenience to them. The research was commissioned by cash access and ATM network Link. It found that contactless via cards was the most preferred payment method among people surveyed, with 40% choosing this option. But nearly two-thirds (65%) of people said that physical coins and banknotes gave them confidence that 'nothing would go wrong', such as a payment outage. Cash remains particularly popular among people aged 55 and over, with 25% preferring cash compared with 8% of 25 to 34-year-olds, the survey indicated. Supermarkets and convenience stores are the most popular places where people have spent cash, the research indicated. Nearly seven in 10 (69%) people surveyed said they had used cash to pay for something in the previous two weeks. Three-quarters (75%) of people surveyed said they could easily make their day-to-day payments by phone or card. But 85% said they worry that a cashless society could exclude vulnerable groups, and 71% see cash as vital for personal freedom. Nearly two-thirds (63%) of people said they are unlikely to go completely cashless in the next 12 months. One in 12 (8%) said they lead 'cashless' lives. Graham Mott, Link director of strategy said: 'Cash remains a critical part of the UK's payment landscape. This research shows that, while digital payments are growing, cash continues to play a vital role in financial inclusion, budgeting and consumer choice.' YouGov carried out the survey among more than 2,200 people across the UK in June. Earlier this month, it emerged that the Bank of England will monitor cash acceptance on an ongoing basis, following a Treasury Committee report which raised concerns about the future of coins and banknotes. In its response to the report, the Government said the Bank had committed to continuing to include an additional question on cash acceptance in its survey of consumers, after it was introduced in January. The committee has highlighted how UK businesses and organisations can choose to refuse cash with no legal duty to accommodate customers' varying needs. Its report, published earlier this year, warned that a lack of action to tackle declining cash acceptance could lead to a two-tier society with the most vulnerable bearing the cost. MPs called for improved monitoring. The committee highlighted that vulnerable groups, such as people with learning disabilities, domestic abuse victims and the elderly, could be particularly affected.
BBC News
2 minutes ago
- BBC News
Is there too much technology in education?
The head of a school academy chain has warned the education system is in danger of being over digitised, amid the rise of educational technology. As schools are encouraged to invest in "ed tech", a recent report by the Nuffield Foundation highlighted a lack of "evaluation and oversight" of firms providing learning platforms for children. John Uttley, who leads 12 primary and secondary schools in East and North Yorkshire, said he had seen "no evidence that [devices] are more beneficial than other methods of teaching".The government, who announced £4m of funding towards developing AI tools to help mark work and plan lessons last year, has been approached for comment. Data provided by technology company estimated that 1,203 ed tech companies were operating in England in 2025, up from 1,017 in industry has an estimated worth of £6.5bn, according to the firm, with 90% of primary and 92% of secondary schools currently using these learning platforms in England. Mr Uttley, CEO of The Education Alliance which has schools in Naburn, Driffield and Beverley among others, said: "We should rightly worry about this generation being so reliant on smartphones, on tech. "It risks sending a mixed message around saying on the one hand be careful how much you're on a screen and then saying the main way we are going to learn in a school is through a screen." Nuffield Foundation's report, titled A Learning Curve? highlighted a lack of support for schools and school leaders when it came to purchasing educational technology for protection and the risk of data exploitation were areas of concern, drawing attention to the importance of schools fully understanding what pupil data was being collected, how it was stored, and with whom it was of the report Renate Samson said a better understanding of the technology and evidence of the impact on teaching methods and learning outcomes was needed. "It's hard to identify what the benefits are, as there's little research of the effectiveness and efficiency of these products," she said."Some schools are purchasing through word of mouth or lured by big marketing and hype." As many parents struggle to balance children's time on screens with real-life interaction, some worry the use of technology for school work gave them "less control". Mum of two Anna, from York, said: "We try on a daily basis to limit the time they spend on devices. "They say we need it for homework but I'm sure half the time they are then going on other things that aren't homework."Anna's daughter Rosa, nine, said she enjoyed doing her homework on a device, especially maths, as it let her "earn coins" for answering questions Rosa's 13-year-old sister Matilda said she found education apps "overwhelming" and would prefer written homework. "It goes in better [on paper] because I don't have a screen dinging every five seconds showing me something I want to look at," she said. "I'm just focused on it that entire time and don't have anything else distracting me." Some schools, such as Rossett School in Harrogate, have embraced educational secondary school, part of the Red Kite Learning Trust, has been an "iPad school" for the past pupils buy a device through the school for class and homework to "enhance" learning.A firewall is installed during schools hours so only class work can be accessed. Year 7 pupils told the BBC they "loved" using iPads, describing it as "so fun" and "more interesting than writing all the time". 'iPads do what textbooks can't' Head teacher Tim Milburn said he believed working on devices was a great way to engage young people and prepare them for the digital world. "Teachers are able to make decisions where teaching is enhanced by technology making sure young people can use that safely and properly," he said."We can do things on an iPad that we can't do with a text book." Additionally, he said using tech to help with marking could free up teachers and cut their workload."If that can mean more time is spent on planning lessons then that's got to be for the benefit of young people," he said. Many schools were forced to introduce more technology during the coronavirus pandemic but Mr Uttley said The Education Alliance reviewed this once schools returned to said: "We really believe the best teaching happens between an adult and a child and it's very important for children to continue to develop writing skills, reading skills with books and on paper, rather than just always on a screen."Mr Uttley acknowledged that technology can play a valuable role in the classroom, but only when used appropriately."It needs to be used when it really adds to learning," he said."Researching a particular topic on the internet is a perfectly appropriate use of tech but that doesn't mean that whole lessons should necessarily rely on tech."
