So, the latest salvo from the Leave camp is an assertion that the EU is stopping us from cutting VAT on domestic fuel.
There is one man amongst the ranks of the Brexiters who knows all about VAT on domestic fuel. That’s right. Step forward former Chancellor Norman Lamont. It was he who decided to put VAT on domestic fuel at the rate of 8% from April 1 1994. The EU didn’t force him to do this. He was doing it to cut public spending, something Tories have a bit of an obsession with. Not only that, but he would have been quite happy to raise it to 17.5% the year after.
Here’s a story from the Independent at the time where Mr Lamont is doing his usual Je ne regrette rien line.
Fellow now Brexiteer Michael Portillo, then Chief Secretary to the Treasury, added his twopence worth:
And in an atmosphere of growing confusion, a damaging Commons row broke out last night after Michael Portillo, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, suggested that poorer people would not suffer too much because of the ‘swings and roundabouts’of the Income Support system.
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