SALES of life-saving defibrillator machines to restart the heart after cardiac arrest are boosting Treasury coffers because they are subjected to a charge of 20 per cent VAT.

The Scottish government has demanded that the charge be dropped.

Organisations such as local authorities and charities are exempt from the charge when they buy the machines, but individuals, businesses and community groups have to pay it.

Scotland’s Finance Secretary Kate Forbes and public health minister Maree Todd have written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak today calling on him to end the charge.

They said that the health benefits of having more defibrillators available “vastly outweigh” any loss of tax revenue.

“Given the new flexibilities afforded to the UK government over VAT following Britain’s exit from the EU, we would ask that an exemption from the VAT charge on defibrillators, which is currently available to local authorities and charities, is extended to cover all purchases of defibrillators,” they wrote.