Because nothing is made in the UK any more they are taxing everything that comes into the country to stimulate loacl retail & manufacturing.
Several other suppliers will no longer ship orders for less than £ 135 because they are responsible for adding VAT then remitting it to the UK tax man , along with several kilogrames of paper work .
So don't be surprised when you start seeing minimum invoice amounts popping up all over the place.
In OZ we did deals with Ammozone , Evilpay & Play pal who all add GST at their end then remitt ( if you believe in fairy tals ) all of it to the OZ government on a quarterly basis.
At this point in time the credit cards told the Government where they could go if they expected the credit cards to do the same, but it will happen eventually as we go more on line.
With annual output of £192 billion the UK remains the ninth largest manufacturing nation in the world. We just get on with it,busy making a living and not shouting about it.