The Chancellor of the Exchequer , Rishi Sunak, has scrapped the tax on sanitary products in the Budget.
The move, which comes into force in January 2021, will mean there will be no VAT added to tampons and other sanitary products.
The Treasury estimates the move will save the average woman nearly £40 over her lifetime, with a cut of 7p on a pack of 20 tampons and 5p on 12 pads.
EU law has so far prevented member states from reducing the rate below 5 per cent, which means tampons and pads are treated as luxury items and not essentials.
But the Government plans to introduce the zero rate on January 1 , the first day the laws no longer apply to the UK.
While the EU has been working to give member states the ability to scrap the tax, successive UK governments have committed to abolish it.
Critics have long criticised the tax for contributing to “period poverty”, where sanitary products are pushed out of reach because of their cost.
The campaign to scrap the "tampon tax" included a Change.org online petition which began in 2014.
It was signed by more than 300,000 supporters.
The UK currently uses the revenues raised to fund charities which aid vulnerable women, with £62 million having been allocated since the scheme was launched in 2015.
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