Rishi Sunak has been urged to extend a massive cut to VAT for pubs and restaurants to cover alcoholic drinks and keep it in place for another year in order to rescue the ailing hospitality industry. The chancellor lowered the rate to 5 per cent last year for food and soft drinks and is planning to keep it in place until at least June, when it is hoped Britain will return to something approaching normal life. But MPs and business leaders are demanding the rate stay in place for another 12 months, saying a return to the 20 per cent standard rate would strangle the sector's recovery.