Shoppers give their verdicts on today's tax rise

With 1 and 2 January both falling on a weekend, yesterday was a bank holiday, but there was something distinctively business-like about the way shoppers marched down the aisles.

Jean Ritchie, 73, a retired nursing manager, was so determined to beat the VAT increase, she decided to buy a carpet in Edinburgh, where she had been spending the holidays, and have it delivered to her home in Swansea.

She was planning to spend about 600 on a carpet for her living room, so waiting for the tax hike could have cost her an extra 12.

She said: "I think everyone is worried about VAT going up. I decided to get the carpet today, before the increase, because I know I can get it sent down and delivery is free.

"I'm planning on spending about 600, so the VAT increase would make quite a big difference."

For other shoppers, the looming VAT rise made them think about making purchases they would not have done otherwise.

"It's certainly an incentive to buy now, before it goes up," said Kirsty Lindsay, 32, from Edinburgh, who works in banking.

"I'm not really looking for anything in particular, but I might buy a coffee machine as it'll be cheaper now. I think some shops will absorb the VAT increase, but it's impossible to know which ones."

However, some shoppers were disappointed by what was on offer.

Rhona Fairgrieve, 40, from Edinburgh, said: "For those of us on a budget it used to tempting to buy now pay later, but given the nervousness of the last year and the continuing uncertainty of the next, I'm not spending as I might have in sales gone by.

"John Lewis continues to let me down, but Habitat was more tempting. I've not found anything that was a must have bargain, and given I've just bought a new flat. That's disappointing. "

Civil servant Jayne Smith, 39, from Edinburgh, was another out hunting for a bargain. "It's always better to get it cheaper, so the saving goes in my pocket, rather than someone else's," she said.

For some people 2.5 per cent is a lot - for a young couple starting out, for example, in a new home. Everything is always going up, never down, I'm more annoyed about petrol - motorists always seem to be hardest hit."

Katrina Laidlaw, 17, from Dunblane, bought an Apple iMac computer a week early to avoid the VAT rise.

"I looked the iMac up online and it said the price was going up so I dashed out to buy one," she said.

"It saved me 20 and I'm pleased - 20 is 20.Why throw away money unnecessarily because of a tax increase?"

Jackie Wilde, 53, a head housekeeper from Edinburgh, said: "It's good to save money and it was very busy out shopping today so obviously lots of people have had the same thought. It makes perfect sense to try to get things cheaper when you can around this time of year."

She bought a vacuum while William McCallum, from Glasgow, bought his son a television for his birthday.

Mr McCallum, a 49-year-old self-employed piper, said: "The VAT will hit big, pricy items the hardest so things like televisions and laptops were the ones to go for."

Pamela, 39 and Colin Paxton, 38, from the Borders, were out shopping for clothes and electrical equipment before the tax rise.

Ms Paxton said: "This will make a huge difference to people. People won't have the extra money to spend - wages are staying the same but prices are rising, and people are being told they are lucky to have a job at all."

Her husband added: "At what point does the British public say 'we've had enough'? The students have done it, they have made their voice heard. How much further will it have to go before the British public decides to do the same?"