TRIBUTE: The charity single will be released one week prior to Christmas
TRIBUTE: The charity single will be released one week prior to Christmas

Britain’s Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond, has announced that money made from the charity single in memory of murdered MP Jo Cox will not suffer a loss in proceeds over VAT.

The announcement was made on Tuesday 13th December, with the Treasury vowing to make a charitable donation, equivalent to the VAT payable on the sales of the single, to the foundation.

Mr Hammond said: “Jo Cox dedicated so much of her life to helping people less fortunate than herself and the charity named in her honour is carrying on that excellent work.

“It is only right that we do what we can to support that work and I am pleased to confirm that every single penny of sales from this single will go towards the good causes the Jo Cox Foundation supports.”

FUNDING: Philip Hammond confirmed that the single would be exempt to VAT
FUNDING: Philip Hammond confirmed that the single would be exempt to VAT

The song, a cover of the Rolling Stones’ ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’, features a host of household names including Kaiser Chiefs’ Ricky Wilson, Cockney Rebel’s Steve Harley, KT Tunstall and David Gray.

A backing track is provided by members of the parliamentary rock group MP4 and the Royal Opera House Thurrock Community Chorus.

Steve Harley, who sings with Cockney Rebel, said of Mrs Cox: “It just seemed that every breath she took seemed to be for someone else’s benefit.”

Proceeds from the charity single will all be donated to the Jo Cox Foundation which supports a plethora of charities – these include the Royal Voluntary Service and Syrian rescue volunteers the White Helmets.

Project organiser Kevin Brennan, MP4 member and Labour MP for Cardiff West, said: “The fact that so many people have given up their time for this project to support the causes she cared about shows that she leaves us all a legacy of hope for a better world.”

It is not the first time a government has waived VAT on a Christmas single, with the first example of such an offering occurring in 1984 for Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’.