Jenkins Bakery boss joins Pasty Tax march
One of the bosses from popular South Wales bakery Jenkins the Bakers joined a march on No10 Downing Street today in protest at the Pasty Tax.
David Jenkins, commercial director and company secretary with Jenkins the Bakers, joined hundreds of bakers in presenting a petition objecting to Pasty Tax to No10.
Mr Jenkins said: “It is grossly unfair to ask the consumer to pay an extra 20 per cent on the product simply because it is either hot or warm.
“We live in a very difficult economic climate and a lot of our customers are on very tight budgets and they cannot be expected to pay the extra amount.
“It’s an unfair tax”
The Jenkins Bakery currently sells more than 50,000 corned beef pasties every week in South West Wales.
Mr Jenkins said the proposed 20 per cent VAT would obviously hit sales of the bakery’s products.
Today’s march was organised by the National Association of Master Bakers (NAMB) and started from Pudding Lane.
Up to this morning, nearly 500,000 signatures had been collected for the petition to No10.
Last week a move by Labour to block the Pasty Tax was defeated despite a revolt by 14 coalition backbenchers - nine Tories and five Liberal Democrats.
Jenkins the Bakers, a third generation family business based in Llanelli and with shops across South West Wales, is in the vanguard of a campaign to halt the tax proposal.
“The tax is unmanageable, unpalatable and unfair,” said the Jenkins Bakery’s operations director Russell Jenkins.
“The Government is out of order in introducing VAT on some of the nation’s favourite and most affordable foods.
“We know how popular our products are and many appeal to families who are already suffering severe budget restraints in these difficult economic times.
“Our customers will feel the damage of this unwelcome tax in their pockets and that is bad news all around.
The Chancellor, George Osborne, has angered craft bakers across the country with his Budget plan to change the VAT rules on freshly baked, hot pies, pasties and other savouries.
Mr Jenkins said: “It is anticipated that the VAT will increase by 20% the cost of some of the nation’s favourite and most affordable foods.
“The move has angered craft bakers across the country who fear for the resulting loss of sales and the effects on their businesses.
“The National Association of Master Bakers (NAMB) is mounting a campaign to ensure that this proposal is dropped from ministerial plans before it can become law in October.
“We have until May 4 to make the Government see how this price increase will effect ordinary people and how unmanageable the implementation of the tax will be; concentrating as it does on the relative hotness of the product in comparison to the ambient temperature in the baker’s shop!
“The Association believe the proposal is ill conceived and poorly thought through, making it open to mis-interpretation. It will be confusing for both bakery staff and consumers who will see it as an unfair tax.”
An online public petition has been set up on the following internet link –
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/32044
David Jenkins, commercial director and company secretary with Jenkins the Bakers, joined hundreds of bakers in presenting a petition objecting to Pasty Tax to No10.
Mr Jenkins said: “It is grossly unfair to ask the consumer to pay an extra 20 per cent on the product simply because it is either hot or warm.
“We live in a very difficult economic climate and a lot of our customers are on very tight budgets and they cannot be expected to pay the extra amount.
“It’s an unfair tax”
The Jenkins Bakery currently sells more than 50,000 corned beef pasties every week in South West Wales.
Mr Jenkins said the proposed 20 per cent VAT would obviously hit sales of the bakery’s products.
Today’s march was organised by the National Association of Master Bakers (NAMB) and started from Pudding Lane.
Up to this morning, nearly 500,000 signatures had been collected for the petition to No10.
Last week a move by Labour to block the Pasty Tax was defeated despite a revolt by 14 coalition backbenchers - nine Tories and five Liberal Democrats.
Jenkins the Bakers, a third generation family business based in Llanelli and with shops across South West Wales, is in the vanguard of a campaign to halt the tax proposal.
“The tax is unmanageable, unpalatable and unfair,” said the Jenkins Bakery’s operations director Russell Jenkins.
“The Government is out of order in introducing VAT on some of the nation’s favourite and most affordable foods.
“We know how popular our products are and many appeal to families who are already suffering severe budget restraints in these difficult economic times.
“Our customers will feel the damage of this unwelcome tax in their pockets and that is bad news all around.
The Chancellor, George Osborne, has angered craft bakers across the country with his Budget plan to change the VAT rules on freshly baked, hot pies, pasties and other savouries.
Mr Jenkins said: “It is anticipated that the VAT will increase by 20% the cost of some of the nation’s favourite and most affordable foods.
“The move has angered craft bakers across the country who fear for the resulting loss of sales and the effects on their businesses.
“The National Association of Master Bakers (NAMB) is mounting a campaign to ensure that this proposal is dropped from ministerial plans before it can become law in October.
“We have until May 4 to make the Government see how this price increase will effect ordinary people and how unmanageable the implementation of the tax will be; concentrating as it does on the relative hotness of the product in comparison to the ambient temperature in the baker’s shop!
“The Association believe the proposal is ill conceived and poorly thought through, making it open to mis-interpretation. It will be confusing for both bakery staff and consumers who will see it as an unfair tax.”
An online public petition has been set up on the following internet link –
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/32044
Picture: Russell and David Jenkins.
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