Gavin Williamson, MP for South Staffordshire, has achieved success in his campaign to see a halt to the beer duty escalator.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer scrapped Labour’s plans to increase beer duty in today’s Budget and, instead, cut it by a penny, meaning beer will be 1p per pint cheaper after Sunday night – 4p per pint cheaper than it would have been under Labour.
The announcement is the culmination of a long fought campaign by Gavin, who has had a number of meetings with Ministers to press the need for a lower duty on beer.
Indeed, last year, Gavin secured a debate on the issue in Parliament, which was extremely well received and supported by a large number of his peers.
Welcoming the news, Gavin said: “Labour increased beer duty by 60 per cent and left our pubs fighting for survival. We’ve not only scrapped Labour’s planned increase – we’ve actually cut it. It’s great for beer-drinkers and it’s great for breweries. It’s also great for the West Midlands’ 4,972 brilliant pubs.
“I particularly welcome the difference that this will make to the three excellent breweries of South Staffordshire - Morton Brewery, Enville Brewery and Kinver Brewery - who will no doubt be celebrating the news right now with a large pint.”
Beer duty increased from 10.82 per cent in 1997 to 17.32 per cent in 2010, an increase of 6.5 percentage points, or 60 per cent.
Labour’s final budget committed the Government to increase cider duty by 10 per cent above inflation and to increase all alcohol duty rates by 2 per cent above inflation until 2014-15.
The Government scrapped Labour’s planned 10 per cent above inflation cider tax in Budget 2010 and has now, in Budget 2013, saved drinkers 4 pence a pint compared to Labour’s plans, which would have seen beer duty rise a further 3p this year alone.