A new Bill lets every mayor in England charge visitors a nightly fee, with no cap in the law. The 5% ceiling ministers cite is a promise from ten mayors, not a clause in the Bill.
Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
In short. The Visitor Levy (England) Bill had its first reading in the Commons on 4 November 2026, legislating the power to charge an Overnight Visitor Levy on overnight stays for Strategic Authorities across England [1]. MHCLG's press release the same day says the levy must be "charged as a percentage rate of the cost of accommodation, rather than as a flat fee", then adds: "Ten mayors have also committed that any levy introduced in their areas would be no higher than 5%, providing certainty for visitors and businesses" [2]. The percentage-not-flat-fee rule is described as something government requires. The 5% figure is described as something ten mayors chose to promise. Budget 2026 commits to legislating the levy power for "all Strategic Authorities" [3], which is more mayors than have made that pledge. Two documented mistakes: four stars.
A power for all, a ceiling from some
England's first Overnight Visitor Levy power was trailed on 10 September 2026, when MHCLG announced that "mayors and local leaders will be handed the power to introduce" a fee on overnight stays, with "mayors and leaders of Foundation Strategic Authorities" free to decide whether to use it, "in consultation with their residents and local businesses" [4]. That release already carried the government's core promise on cost: "The government will protect budget holidays by requiring the levy to be charged as a percentage of the cost of accommodation, rather than as a flat fee, shielding families from disproportionate costs for cheaper holidays" [4].
Budget 2026, published 28 October, turned the announcement into a firm commitment. Among the Fiscal Devolution Roadmap's measures, it lists "plans to legislate for all Strategic Authorities to have the power to introduce an Overnight Visitor Levy" [3], page 64. Not some Strategic Authorities. All of them.
The Visitor Levy (England) Bill followed on 4 November, introduced in the Commons as Bill 177 of the 2026-27 session [1]. Its own text and explanatory notes, hosted on publications.parliament.uk, returned a Cloudflare bot challenge to every fetch attempted for this piece, on both a plain and a browser-matched request; the same challenge blocked bills.parliament.uk and hansard.parliament.uk. The Bill's existence, introduction date and current stage, first reading complete and second reading not yet sat, are independently confirmed through the Parliament Bills API, which was reachable throughout [1] [5]. This piece is built on what the government has said about the Bill in public, not on the Bill's clauses, because the clauses were not accessible to check.
What the government has said is specific about the rate structure and vaguer about the rate itself. The 4 November press release repeats the percentage-not-flat-fee protection from September almost word for word, "the government will continue to protect lower cost family breaks by requiring the levy to be charged as a percentage rate of the cost of accommodation, rather than as a flat fee, meaning those choosing cheaper accommodation will pay less", and then attributes the number that actually caps the bill: "Ten mayors have also committed that any levy introduced in their areas would be no higher than 5%, providing certainty for visitors and businesses while preserving local choice" [2].
Ten mayors are quoted by name in the same press release welcoming the Bill: the mayors of Greater Manchester, London, the East Midlands, West Yorkshire, the West of England, the North East, the West Midlands, South Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region, and York and North Yorkshire [2]. Liverpool City Region's mayor, Steve Rotheram, put a figure on what is at stake locally in September: "Our visitor economy is already worth more than £6.8bn a year and supports more than 55,000 jobs across the Liverpool City Region. A modest levy on overnight stays could potentially raise up to £18m a year" [4]. Scaled across the Strategic Authorities the power is being legislated for nationally, the sums involved run well past that single region's billions.
The claims, tested
| The document's own words | What the record shows | Verdict |
|---|---|---|
| "Ten mayors have also committed that any levy introduced in their areas would be no higher than 5%, providing certainty for visitors and businesses" [2] | Budget 2026 commits to legislating the levy power for "all Strategic Authorities" [3]; neither press release nor the Budget document describes the 5% figure as anything other than a voluntary pledge by ten named mayors | The "certainty" belongs to the ten who promised it, not to the power the Bill creates for every Strategic Authority |
| "The government will continue to protect lower cost family breaks by requiring the levy to be charged as a percentage rate... rather than as a flat fee" [2] | This rule is attributed to government requirement in both press releases, phrased identically to the 5% sentence that follows it but sourced differently, "requiring" versus "committed" [2] [4] | One sentence describes a structural rule; the next describes a promise. The press release's "and" does not make them the same kind of thing |
| "Mayors and leaders of Foundation Strategic Authorities can decide whether to introduce a levy and how the revenue should be invested in their area, in consultation with their residents and local businesses" [4] | Neither release, nor the Budget document, sets out a minimum consultation period, a response threshold or a requirement to publish what the consultation found | "In consultation with" describes an intention, not a defined process a resident or business could hold a mayor to |
The mistakes, counted
A rate ceiling presented as certainty is a promise from ten mayors, for a power being legislated for all of them (1). The Bill gives every Strategic Authority in England the power to introduce the levy, as Budget 2026 states plainly: "plans to legislate for all Strategic Authorities to have the power" [3]. The only rate ceiling attached to that power in anything the government has published is the 5% figure "ten mayors have... committed" to [2], a pledge with no stated duration, no mechanism and no stated consequence if a mayor who made it changes course, or if a mayor who did not make it sets a higher rate.
A consultation requirement with no defined shape is offered as part of the same safeguard (2). The September release ties a mayor's decision to introduce a levy to being made "in consultation with their residents and local businesses" [4], language that reads as a procedural protection but names no minimum period, no publication requirement and no test a resident or trade body could use to judge whether a consultation had actually happened.
Credit where due
The government is not hiding where the 5% figure comes from. Both press releases say plainly that it is a commitment from named mayors, not a statutory rate, and the 4 November release lists all ten by name with their own quotes rather than folding the pledge into unattributed government prose [2]. The percentage-not-flat-fee rule is a real, specific protection against one kind of unfairness, a levy that would otherwise cost a budget traveller proportionally more than someone paying for a luxury room, and nothing in the record suggests that rule is going anywhere. This piece makes no finding against any named mayor or minister; the ten who pledged a ceiling pledged more than the law currently requires of anyone.
Verdict
Four stars, from two documented mistakes. The Visitor Levy Bill legislates a nationwide power on the strength of a universal rule about how the levy must be structured. The number that actually tells a visitor or a hotelier what it will cost rests on ten mayors keeping their word.
The star score counts two documented mistakes: the 5% rate ceiling MHCLG presents as certainty for "visitors and businesses" is a voluntary pledge by ten named mayors, not a requirement in the Bill that legislates the levy power for every Strategic Authority in England; and the "in consultation with... residents and local businesses" step attached to a mayor's decision to introduce a levy has no defined process set out in anything the government has published. One fall in the 1 to 3 band: four stars; the bands are on the ratings page. The Bill's own text and Explanatory Notes, hosted on publications.parliament.uk, returned a Cloudflare challenge to every fetch attempted for this piece; bills.parliament.uk and hansard.parliament.uk did the same. The Bill's existence, introduction date and stage are independently confirmed via the Parliament Bills API, which was reachable throughout, but this piece tests the government's public statements about the Bill, not clauses this site could not read. Checked directly against both MHCLG press releases, the Budget 2026 document and the Bills API, all fetched 5 November 2026.
Sources
- Visitor Levy (England) Bill, UK Parliament Bills API, bill record, Bill 177 2026-27, introduced House of Commons 4 November 2026.
- New visitor levy powers to put money back into local communities, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government press release, published 4 November 2026.
- Budget 2026 document, HM Treasury, page 64, paragraph 4.60, published 28 October 2026.
- Local leaders handed powers to drive investment in communities, Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government press release, published 10 September 2026.
- Visitor Levy (England) Bill: stages, UK Parliament Bills API, first reading Commons 4 November 2026, second reading not yet sat.