Carolyn Harris wants VAT help for beauty sector workers

An MP has described how a “struggling and worried” constituent may not be able to carry on running a beauty salon through the virus pandemic.

Carolyn Harris said she had made “countless” pleas for help over the last six months, but these had “fallen on deaf ears”, as she asked for the same VAT reduction given to the hospitality industry.

She said the prime minister had “openly sniggered” when asked by a Tory MP about support for the industry, and that its 370,000 workers - who are mostly women - feel "belittled, undervalued and angry”.