It is high time that we recognised the plight of the beer industry

Nigel Evans, Member of Parliament for the Ribble Valley and Vice Chair of the All Party Beer Group, has today criticised the Chancellor’s decision, following pressure from the Scottish whisky industry in the wake of the Pre Budget Report, to make a swift U-turn by maintaining an 8% increase in beer, wine and cider duties but just a 4% increase in spirits duties.

Mr Evans said,

“It is outrageous that the Scottish whisky industry is receiving preferential treatment. It is a baffling decision. The UK pub industry is in dire straits with pubs now closing at an astonishing and worrying rate of 36 per week, up from 27 in 2007.

“Nobody wants to see job losses, but the beer and pub trades are suffering more than most. There are 600,000 people employed in the industry across the UK and we have already seen over 44,000 job losses. As a comparison, there are 9,000 people employed in whisky distilling.

“The Chancellor stated his intent behind the VAT cut and duty increase was that the effect should be broadly neutral but I am yet to see any evidence of that as far as the Great British beer and pub industry is concerned. Already the Government creams a third of the price off every pint that we buy and enough is enough. Plans for the alcohol escalator must be shelved.

“It is high time that we recognised the plight of the beer industry and acted accordingly. Pandering to the Scottish Whisky industry is just another slap in the face.”