These women bled onto their white trousers to campaign against tampon tax

They’re just a few of the items not considered to be a luxury by the government under bizarre VAT rulings. But tampons, an essential item if ever there was one, are considered to be luxury items, and Charlie Edge isn’t having any of it.


She waited until she was on her period, before standing outside parliament in light trousers allowing her menstrual bloods to seep through her clothing.

In a Facebook post of the striking images, she wrote: ‘They’re not luxury items, anymore than Jaffa cakes, edible cake decorations, exotic meats, or any other number of things currently not taxed as luxury items.’

She also received a fair amount of backlash during the protest, from people who told her it was ‘gross’ and believed there was a ‘better way to get your point across.’