Waitrose becomes the latest supermarket chain to cut the price of sanitary products by paying the tampon tax themselves

  • Waitrose followed in Tesco's footsteps and announced it is paying the 5% tax
  • Campaigners welcomed the move and urged other retailers to do the same
  • Osborne last year announced plans to scrap the 'sexist' tax after public outcry
  • The plans have been boged down in Brussels and women are still paying the VAT

By Kate Ferguson, Political Correspondent For Mailonline

Published: 10:35 EST, 8 August 2017 | Updated: 13:18 EST, 8 August 2017

Waitrose today became the latest supermarket chain to announce it will pay the cost of the tampon tax and pass the savings on to its customers.

The retailer is following in the footsteps of Tesco, which last week announced it will foot the bill of the five per cent tax - the reduced VAT rate levied on tampons.

George Osborne last year announced plans to scrap the tax after a campaign to scrap the 'sexist' levy.

A staggering 320,088 people signed a petition demanding the tax be scrapped.

But the move has been bogged down in Brussels as under current rules the EU has to agree to any change to VAT rates.

Waitrose has become the latest supermarket chain to announce that it will foot the tampon tax and pass on the savings to its customers 

Waitrose has become the latest supermarket chain to announce that it will foot the tampon tax and pass on the savings to its customers 

The UK will be able to finally abolish the tax when we quit the bloc in March 2019, but in the meantime high street giants are taking  the matter into their own hands.

Waitrose said it will lower the price of its sanitary products over the course of this week.

Michael Andrews, director of buying at the chain, said: ‘By covering the VAT cost and reducing the price by five per cent, we are confident it will make a difference to our customers.’

The move was praised by campaigners who immediately called on other supermarket chains to follow suit and pay the tax. 

The All party Parliamentary Group on Women's Health said: 'Very pleased Waitrose has become the second major UK supermarket to announce it will pay the tampon tax on behalf of its customers.'

The campaigning petitions website page 38 degrees urged its followers to tweet the supermarket chain Asda to encourage them to do the same.

In a message, they wrote: 'Waitrose has just announced they'll scrap the cost of the tampon tax on sanitary products too! TWEET Asda calling on them to do it as well.' 

 Monica Lennon, a Labour member of the Scottish Parliament, wrote on Twitter: 'Another victory for #tampontax & #periodpoverty campaigners. Sanitary products are not luxuries; they're essential.' 

George Osborne, pictured on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, announced plans to scrap the tampon tax last year while he was Chancellor, but women are still paying the 5% VAT after as the proposals have been bogged down in Brussels

George Osborne, pictured on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show, announced plans to scrap the tampon tax last year while he was Chancellor, but women are still paying the 5% VAT after as the proposals have been bogged down in Brussels

 

Comments 149

Share what you think

  View all

The comments below have not been moderated.

  View all

The views expressed in the contents above are those of our users and do not necessarily reflect the views of MailOnline.

We are no longer accepting comments on this article.