The VAT hike will put around 3p on a litre of petrol, 6p on a pint of lager, £10 on a man’s suit, £80 on a sofa set and more than £300 on a new car. Electrical goods, phone bills, restaurant meals and holidays will also be more expensive after the 2.5 percentage point rise from 17.5%. The increase in the tax could not come at a worse time as the nation is suffering the biggest squeeze on living... 

George Osborne has now confirmed that the VAT increase to 20% will not be reversed, he insisting it was a ‘structural’ change to the tax system. VAT goes up on January 4. The rise, which will cost the average middle-class family up to £448 a year, was announced in June’s emergency Budget.[ad] // However in an interview with the Spectator magazine, Mr. Osborne dismissed the idea that VAT, which...