This is the wrong tax at the wrong time and yet another attack by Labour on Britain’s tourism and hospitality industry. Tourism is a British success story. It generates more than £147 billion in economic activity, supports millions of jobs and brings more than £30 billion a year into Britain from overseas visitors. Yet since Labour’s first Budget, more than 100,000 jobs have already been lost across tourism and hospitality. Instead of asking how they can help this vital sector grow, Labour’s answer is yet another tax. I warned Ministers in Parliament that even a £2 per person per night charge would add £56 to the cost of a week-long holiday for a family of four. For many families that is significant, particularly for lower-cost breaks and caravan holidays where it could represent a substantial increase in the overall price. Now we discover that Labour has not even put a cap on the tax. We all know what happens with taxes like this: they start at one level and then go up and up. Businesses and holidaymakers are being handed a blank cheque with no certainty about how high the charge could eventually become. This comes on top of higher National Insurance costs, business rates pressures, rising employment costs and all the other burdens Labour has already imposed on businesses. What does this Labour Government have against tourism? We should be encouraging families to holiday in Britain, attracting more international visitors and helping our hotels, B&Bs, caravan parks and visitor attractions to grow and create jobs. Instead, Labour is making holidays more expensive and Britain less competitive. And there is still a fundamental question about where this money will actually go. If people are being charged a tourism tax, there must at the very least be an absolute guarantee that every penny raised is spent supporting tourism, rather than disappearing into wider council budgets. The Conservatives would take the opposite approach. We would back hospitality, tourism and leisure businesses with 100% business rates relief and help them invest, employ people and grow. You cannot tax your way to growth, and Labour cannot keep hammering one of Britain’s most important industries and expect it to thrive. #ukpolitics #tourismtax @Conservatives @UKHospitality - @nigelhuddlestonmp