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The Tampon tax won't be banned for four years despite Tory vow to scrap hated charge.

In 2016 David Cameron said he had secured an agreement with other EU member states to abolish VAT on sanitary products.

The then prime minister suggested it would be easy to make the change but EU rules mean no individual country can change tax levels on their own.

And two years on from his promise there has been no agreement with other EU states and no mention of the important issue in the Brexit negotiations.

Today Eurocrats announced they will give Member States more powers to lift sales tax on some consumer products, but not until 2022.

(Image: Rex Features)

Ahead of the EU referendum Vote Leave suggested that the charge could be removed the day after a vote for Brexit .

But as the UK won’t actually leave the EU until 2022 we are still obliged to abide by the bloc’s rules until that date and possibly beyond depending on the negotiations.

Instead from Autumn 2015 the Tories committed the money raised by the five per cent VAT on sanitary products would fund women’s charities.

Last year there was widespread anger when it was revealed one of those to benefit was an anti-abortion group.

Activist Laura Coryton whose petition calling for the UK government to introduce a zero-rate for the products in 2015 which gained more than 320,000 signatures said: “It is very frustrating having to wait for so long.”

She called on Theresa May to make a solid commitment to end the tax as soon as possible.

Paula Sherriff MP who chairs the All Party Parliamentary Group on women’s health and has been campaigning on the issue described the news as “disappointing”.

She said: “David Cameron said he had delivered concrete guarantees that we could abolish the tampon tax, and Vote Leave claimed we could do it in the very first Queen’s Speech after the referendum.

“Unfortunately there is no sign that the current Tory government has pushed the issue in Brexit talks, and it could take six years for them to meet their promise. Ministers should come clean and announce what their timetable is and what they are doing to bring it forward.”

“Given the extended wait, there is all the more reason to look again at how the tampon tax fund works.

“With hundreds of thousands of pounds being given to an anti-choice group, women are being taxed on our bodies to pay for people who don’t think we should have control over them.

“I’m pushing the government to set aside funds to tackle period poverty and guarantee funding for other essential women’s services which remain under threat.”

In the meantime some UK retailers have said they will cover the cost of the tax.

Tesco, Morrisons and Waitrose have all promised to save customers the 5% cost until the law changes.

A HM Treasury spokesperson said: “We strongly support removing tax on tampons, and have fought long and hard to change EU law so that we can do it. Today’s proposal is a step in the right direction and we will continue to push the Member States to make it a reality.

“In the meantime, we’re awarding £15 million a year to women’s charities – equivalent to the amount of VAT raised from the sale of women’s sanitary products”.