The fight against the tampon tax has been taken on by a curious coalition of disparate MPs. First of all, there are the left-wingers and the feminists who insist it is ridiculous that women in the UK have to pay a 5% tax on something that is by no means a luxury item.
Then there are the anti-EU MPs on the right wing of the Conservative party, who basically want any excuse to show EU rules up to be a little bit crap and therefore promote the idea that a British exit from the EU is a good idea.
What have tampons got to do with the EU? Well, as David Cameron said way back in April, on the lead-up to the election, it’s the EU’s fault that ‘these things’ (of course, he never said ‘tampon’ out loud) were still taxed as luxury items while things like crocodile meat is not. Because, when it comes to tampon tax, the EU makes the rules.
Therefore, as well as the feminists, you have the ‘Brexit’ campaigners looking to latch on to ANY debate which could show Europe in a shoddy light.
Ahead of the EU referendum, the UK has an opportunity to take a few problems to the EU to have them discussed. These problems were to be debated by parliament ahead of being suggested to the Prime Minister. And one such problem is, yes, you guessed it, the tampon tax!
While joining forces to get the tampon tax destroyed, 75-year-old MP Bill Cash said he was ‘completely on the side’ of campaigners who want ‘a complete and total elimination of VAT on these products.’
The problem was? He couldn’t actually say ‘tampon’. So during a debate, Stella Creasy said that she would not sit down and let him speak until he said the word ‘tampon’. And this is what happened:
Stella seems to be pleased with the result, tweeting:
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.