Britain helps pubs by raising 'draught relief' on beer (updated)
15/03/2023 16:12
(Adds details, reaction)
LONDON, March 15 (Reuters) - Britain's finance minister
Jeremy Hunt offered some help to pubs on Wednesday by increasing
"draught relief", making the rate of duty on draught beer and
cider up to 11 pence lower than the charge on cans or bottles
bought in a supermarket from August.
The measure will coincide with a rise in alcohol taxes in
line with inflation, ending a freeze that has been in since
2020, and will result in no change in the duty paid on a typical
pint poured from a tap in a pub, the government said.
"In December, I extended the alcohol duty freeze until
August 1st, after which duties will go up in line with inflation
in the usual way," Hunt told parliament in his budget statement.
"But today, I will do something that was not possible when
we were in the EU and significantly increase the generosity of
Draught Relief, so that from August 1st the duty on draught
products in pubs will be up to 11p lower than the duty in
supermarkets, a differential we will maintain as part of a new
Brexit pubs guarantee."
The government is also pressing ahead with reforms that will
increase taxes on stronger alcoholic products, such as wines and
spirits.
JD Wetherspoon's JDW.L chairman Tim Martin said any
reduction in the tax disparity between pubs and supermarkets was
welcome.
"This gesture by the government is a tacit acknowledgment
that something needs to be done," he said.
Diageo DGE.L , the maker of Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky,
said the alcohol duty rises would be a "hammer blow for pubs,
drinkers and for Scotch, a homegrown industry supporting tens of
thousands of jobs".
"We urge the chancellor to reverse this punitive and
inflationary tax hike," said Diageo GB Managing Director Nuno
Teles.
(Reporting by David Milliken, Radhika Anilkumar and Richa
Naidu, Writing by Paul Sandle; editing by Michael Holden)
((paul.sandle@thomsonreuters.com; +44 20 7542 6843; Reuters
Messaging: paul.sandle.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))