Following a meeting of the Economy and Place and Scrutiny Committee last night, where councillors put forward a motion to pause bringing in the tourism tax, warnings have been sounded by a long serving Senedd member.
A representative for Bangor Conwy Mon, Janet Finch-Saunders MS said, whilst it was good news, she would have preferred them to stop the Tourist Tax in its tracks.
At the meeting three councillors put forward a counter proposal to stop the tourism tax, a tax that would hit many hospitality businesses and damage our visitor economy.
Instead of supporting this motion placed by Cllr. Jo Nuttall, Conservative, Cllr Mandy Hawkins Labour and Cllr Samantha Cotton, Conservative, other committee members preferred just a pause.
Janet said:
“The worry here however, is that in just 8 months’ time all council seats will be up for grabs and we have to be certain, this is not a pre-election sweetener, intended to help their chances on polling day, only to implement this dreadful tax after the elections.
“If any current Conwy County Borough Councillor believes in supporting our hard working business owners, the only real proposal worth supporting is to stop any thoughts of bringing this tax forward.
“Jumping on the bandwagon of this latest proposal were members of the Reform party who attended the meeting last night but who didn’t vote.
It will be interesting as to whether they will stand up and kick this tourism tax into touch.
“A pause is great but a complete reversal would be even better.”
ENDS
Photo: Janet Finch-Saunders MS/AS
