vat

The National Insurance rise for employers has meant some hospitality workers have called for a VAT cut.

She is calling for a change to National Insurance contributions for employers, which increased last year, and a reduced rate of VAT for the hospitality sector.

Asked if this approach could make the markets jittery and potentially drive investors away, Mr Nowak said: "Britain is an attractive place for international investors" and he suggested there hadn't been "an exodus of millionaires" after tax changes for non-doms and ending the VAT exemption for school fees.

Ferrari-driving Arif Patel, from Preston, worked with other criminals to make false VAT rebate claims on fake exports of textiles and mobile phones.

But he and his accomplices ran a "carousel fraud" scam that involved creating fake business transactions on goods moved between various companies, with the false import and export records used to claim back large sums of VAT.