Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if he will provide an estimate of the annual cost to the public purse of a change in the rate of VAT on pet food from standard rate to zero defined in sections 6 and 7 of VAT Notice 701/15.

VAT has been designed as a broad-based tax on consumption, and the twenty per cent standard rate applies to the majority of goods and services. Pet food attracts the standard rate of VAT.

Introducing any new VAT reliefs would come at a cost to the Exchequer and any changes should be seen in the context of over £50 billion worth of requests for relief from VAT received since the EU referendum. Given this, there are no plans to change the current VAT treatment of pet food.

The Government keeps all taxes under review. Any future changes to the UK tax system will be costed in the usual way.