A major revolt in the UK’s ruling Conservative Party in the House of Commons is threatened over fixed odds betting terminals.
There has been furore about the delay in imposing a forced reduction in stakes on FOBTs from £100 to £2 until October of 2019. Many want the change to come into force in the spring. The government had simultaneously sought to recoup the tax lost by the reduction by increasing remote gaming duty from 15 to 21 per cent.
Now a strong faction within the Commons wants the duty to be brought forward too, so that the country’s Chancellor of the Exchequer has no tax losses to face from an earlier imposition of the reduced stakes.
The three dozen Conservatives who are leading the campaign are joined by MPs from other parties to number at least 76 who want an earlier reduction in the stake. The rebels include the former Minister of Sport, Tracey Crouch, who resigned over the delay in applying the revised stakes, and also former Conservative Party leader Iain Duncan Smith.
