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The government has said bingo halls will not receive a cut in their VAT rates, despite claims thousands of jobs are being lost due to the tax forcing club closures. Angela Eagle, the Exchequer Secretary, ruled any alteration to the current tax system would not be an “appropriate solution”.

There had been some support for the bingo halls with John Hemming, the Liberal Democrat MP, calling for VAT to be abolished. The MP claimed bingo halls cumulatively pay 32% of VAT and other types of gambling only 15%. Ms Eagle rejected his claim saying the tax faced by clubs was actually 25%.

Mr Hemming claimed ministers “had it in” for bingo and its mainly working-class members and said getting rid of VAT would amount to around £10m. He said at least 3,500 jobs had been lost in the last 6 years after the closure of more than 100 bingo clubs. However, Ms Eagle said bingo halls paid the “average” level for most types of gambling with other types attracting other forms of taxation.

Despite the closures and job losses Ms Eagle said: “Our assessment remains that tax is not at the root of the industry’s problems and nor do we believe that alteration of the tax regime would be an appropriate solution to them.”