The Sun
“Pasty la vista taxman: Victory as chancellor caves in over VAT on hot snacks.
“His climbdown is a spectacular victory for The Sun’s ‘Who VAT all the pies?’ campaign.
BBC’s political editor Nick Robinson
“If they [pasties] happen to have just come out of the oven and are hot when sold, they will still be treated for tax purposes like cold takeaway food - that is, they will be zero-rated. Simple really.”
Daily Mail
“Osborne eats his words on pasty tax. The hated pasty tax is to be reversed, George Osborne will announce today.”
The Daily Telegraph
“Pasty tax is too hot to handle as Osborne plans a retreat.”
“David Cameron and Mr Osborne are facing increasing accusations that they are out of touch with ordinary people.”
The Times
“Osborne blows hot and cold on pasty tax”
“The changes [to drop VAT on certain hot foods and to slash the rate of VAT applied to static holiday homes] will cost the taxpayer £65M in lost revenue that the Treasury had budgeted for.”
“The chancellor resorted to the pasty and caravan measures to help fund a huge hike in personal allowances and a cut in the 50p top rate of tax.”
The Independent
“Take-away foods including pasties, sausage rolls and meat-and-potato pies, are to be free from the tax-man’s grasp after a campaign of protest orchestrated by Greggs, the nation’s largest chain of high street bakers.”
Financial Times
“Humble pie for Osborne as his ‘pasty tax’ proves too hot to handle”
“George Osborne’s political roasting over hot pies intensified yesterday after the chancellor was forced into a £40M retreat on his proposed ‘pasty tax’, as the budget showed new signs of unravelling.”
“Mr Osborne, who has admitted he could not recall eating a Greggs pasty, has concluded after a consultation that new VAT rules for hot pies were too complex and imposed a high burden on business.”
