Rejected petition Reduce VAT to 10% for hospitality food & drink businesses

We want the Government to reduce the rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) charged to hospitality businesses—including pubs, cafes and restaurants, from 20% to 10%.This is not a handout it is a correction to a tax rate that puts British hospitality at disadvantage and threatens the heart of our communities.

More details

The UK hospitality industry is overburdened by 20% VAT, the highest among major European economies. Independent business owners operate on wafer-thin profit margins (2-5%) and are struggling to survive soaring costs. Unlike larger chains, independents cannot absorb these taxes. A VAT cut to 10% would allow businesses to freeze menu prices, invest in staff wages, and prevent high street closures.

This petition was rejected

Why was this petition rejected?

There’s already a petition about this issue. We cannot accept a new petition when we already have one about a very similar issue.

You are more likely to get action on this issue if you sign and share a single petition.

You may wish to sign the following petition, which calls for similar action:

Cut VAT for local hospitality – for Pubs, Cafes & Restaurants
https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/743021

We only reject petitions that don’t meet the petition standards.

Date submitted 5 March 2026
Get petition data (json format)

About petition data

The data shows the number of people who have signed the petition by country as well as in the constituency of each Member of Parliament. This data is available for all petitions on the site. It is not a list of people who have signed the petition. The only name that is shared on the site is that of the petition creator.