Diaries and notebooks are standard-rated (20% VAT) in the UK under HMRC VAT Notice 701/10, paragraph 3.1.
Diaries and notebooks
20% VAT
Blank books for writing in are stationery. Standard-rated.
HMRC VAT Notice 701/10, paragraph 3.1
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HMRC names diaries twice, and both times as an example rather than a special case. At 3.1 they are given as a product that is essentially a stationery item, alongside address books, and at 4.2 stationery such as account books and exercise books is standard-rated. The reason a beautifully made diary is still 20% is that the rule is about what the thing is for, not how it is made. There is one curiosity that follows from 4.2: some items that are standard-rated when new and unused can be zero-rated once they have been completed, if by then they have the physical characteristics of a book. HMRC gives completed diaries and ships' logs as its examples, and specifically excludes completed stamp albums. That matters to a dealer in second-hand books, not to a printer, because everything a printer supplies is unused.
Blank pages to write on. That is stationery, whatever the binding.
HMRC VAT Notice 701/10, paragraph 3.1, HMRC's guidance on zero rating books and printed matter. See the notices we work from.
Essentially a stationery item. Quality does not change it.
Note books, pads and paper are listed as standard-rated.
If it is essentially pages of reading matter, the space to write is incidental in the same way answer spaces are.