The move, in the chancellor’s mini-budget – saving homeowners who install panels around λί 1,000 by removing the current 5 per cent rate – will also be allowed by the EU, they insist. The controversy follows Mr Sunak, who backed Brexit, arguing that a 2019 European Court of Justice ruling would prevent him from acting within the bloc. “Thanks to Brexit, we are no longer constrained by EU law,” he told Tory lawmakers, adding: “We will abolish all bureaucracy imposed on us by the EU.” Jacob Rees-Mogg later backed the claim, writing on Twitter after Wednesday’s statement: “The EU would not allow us to do this, another benefit of Brexit.” However, it has emerged that a directive, introduced by the European Council last December, extends the current “exemption” from VAT on food, medicine and public transport. The new list includes “the supply and installation of solar panels in and next to private homes, residences and public and other buildings used for activities of public interest,” the document said. “This is untrue,” said Steve Peers, a Brexit expert and law professor at the University of Essex. “A recently agreed amendment to EU VAT legislation will give Member States an option to exempt from VAT on the supply and installation of solar panels.” And QC Jessica Simor, an expert in EU law, said the directive would allow a “up to zero” VAT rate, adding: “Parliament has agreed. The Council must now seal it. “ Ministers have repeatedly made controversial allegations about changes made in their quest for the “Brexit dividend” promised by voters. Mr Sunak has wrongly argued that free imports of tax breaks are only possible outside the EU, despite the seven in the UK from the mid-1980s to 2012. Boris Johnson also claimed that the United Kingdom was able to steal a course of Covid vaccines outside the European Medicines Agency, although that accession would not prevent the United Kingdom from acting alone. The Treasury Department was asked to respond to criticism that Mr Sunak had misunderstood his new freedoms to work for green energy improvements. In a speech Wednesday, the chancellor said: “If homeowners want to install energy-saving materials, at present only certain items qualify for a 5 per cent VAT exemption – and there are complicated rules about who it is. eligible. “The relief was more generous, but from 2019 the European Court has asked us to limit its eligibility. “But thanks to Brexit, we are no longer limited by EU law.” Green activists hailed the abolition of VAT, also making heat pumps and attic insulation cheaper, but there was no other help in reducing insulation or green energy bills. Meanwhile, the mini-budget supported fossil fuels by reducing fuel tax by 5 p and the chancellor did not even mention the term “clean zero” in his speech.
