In Brief: Polling of over 10,000 adults in Great Britain finds that a majority oppose the Government’s proposed holiday tax, with significant indications that support for the measure could affect MPs’ electoral prospects.
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Survey Indicates UK Voter Backlash Against MPs Supporting Holiday Tax – Image Credit Unsplash
A poll conducted by UKHospitality surveyed more than 10,000 adults across Great Britain and found that 56% oppose the Government’s proposed holiday tax, compared to 24% who support it. The Government has proposed allowing mayoral authorities in England to impose a holiday tax on the cost of overnight stays, which is expected to add more than £100 to the cost of a two-week holiday.
The survey results show that voters are nearly 10 times more likely to reject an MP who supports the holiday tax than to back them. 47% of respondents said they would be less likely to vote for their current MP if the MP supported the tax, while 5% said they would be more likely to vote for them.
Multi-level regression and poststratification (MRP) modeling were used in the polling. The modeling shows that in 200 of the 411 seats won by Labor in 2024, the number of previous Labor supporters who would be less likely to vote for their MP over support for the tax exceeds the MP’s 2024 majority. Among Labour voters in 2024, 40% said they would be less likely to re-elect an MP who supported the tax.
Similar opposition was found among other political groups. Among Conservative voters in 2024, 45% said they would be less likely to re-elect an MP who supported the tax. The figures are 40% for Liberal Democrat voters, 47% for Green Party voters, and 53% for Reform UK voters.
Opposition to the tax is higher among people affected by the rising cost of living. Of those who reported struggling to make ends meet, 62% oppose the holiday tax. The survey found that 18% of respondents would be prevented from booking a holiday in England by any increase in costs due to the new tax. If the tax increased the cost of a holiday by £50, 57% said they would be deterred from booking; if the increase reached £100, 85% said they would be deterred.
Seventy-three percent of respondents said a holiday tax would either stop them from holidaying in England, reduce the number of trips they take, or reduce their spending on trips. Additionally, 39% said they would be more likely to holiday abroad instead, with this figure rising to 48% among the highest-income households.
The polling follows economic modelling by Oxford Economics, commissioned by UKHospitality, which found that a 5% holiday tax—similar to the model being introduced in Edinburgh in July 2026—would result in a £1.6 billion tax increase for holidaymakers in England, a £2.2 billion reduction in GDP, a loss of 33,000 jobs, and a £688 million decrease in tax receipts for the Treasury by 2030.
