Equine thoughts from Cheltenham
The horseracing industry owes its survival to a vigorous campaign in the early 1990s. The imposition of VAT at source with the arrival of the Single European Market meant a hugely higher rate of VAT on bloodstock sales in the UK compared to France and Ireland which had obtained a special low VAT derogation. It would have meant the movement abroad of much of the industry.
Being on the Employment Select Committee, I asked the then Chairman Greville Janner if we could investigate the consequences of this. He allowed me to chair a Committee which recommended that VAT could be a legitimate business expense for valid racehorse ownership. After a fierce campaign, that view was accepted. Since then successive sympathetic moves have been made by Government, and the industry has not only survived but has prospered.
It has also turned itself into a much more family friendly leisure activity so attendances have gone up, and racehorse ownership has grown too. For Newmarket, in my constituency, this has been a tremendous boost for which the racing fraternity remains grateful.
Our breeding and bloodstock industry is arguably the best in the world, and racing here is very well regulated. It is no longer viewed as a rather eccentric marginal activity. It was just such a pleasure to see the crowds at Cheltenham yesterday. It really is a great British success story.