Mark Daniels: People's Livelihoods Are at Stake, Mr Darling!

One of the traits I despise most in a person is somebody who simply won't listen. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, and I truly admire a person who stands by their own point of view, but to not listen, to not at least acknowledge that the views of others might be different to your own, that's a real bugbear of mine.

I had it on Saturday night, when a customer refused to listen to what was being said to them, the reason they were being asked to walk away from another person. They'd done nothing wrong, but a disagreement had occurred, and then they might simply have just stuck their fingers in their ears and sung "la la la la la", such was their inability to acknowledge the other's view differed.

I fear a similar situation could occur when Chancellor Alistair Darling sits down to listen to the views of publicans in a pre-budget meeting. He'll no doubt be congenial, he'll raise his colourful eyebrows in a gesture of sympathy, and he'll open his arms in empathy as he listens to the concerns of publicans up and down the country. And then he'll walk out of the meeting, get in to his chauffeur-driven car, pour a snifter of brandy, and say "bugger the pub trade."

I don't wish to sound like a Negative Nelly here, but the Government have had plenty of opportunity to listen to, and help, our trade on several occasions and yet they still haven't done so. They were warned that the smoking ban would cause pubs to close, jobs to be lost, businesses to suffer and yet they carried on with the plan anyway, unprepared to listen to viable alternatives that were put forward that were both workable and inexpensive to implement. They were told that increasing duty would only serve to stifle the trade further, to drive sociable people to purchase cheap alcohol and drink and smoke at home in front of their children rather than in safe and friendly establishments, yet the tax hikes of recent years have been draconian.

The pre-Christmas VAT cut was a sop to appease the general public, but in reality it has done nothing to help any business, small or large, and made less difference to the list price of most products than could have been discounted via negotiation with the salesperson anyway. But it did even less to help the alcohol trade as any savings made with the rate reduction were negated by yet another increase in duty on our products.

In short, the Government aren't really listening. They're sticking their fingers in their ears, and going "la la la la la", in the hopes that it'll all work out in the end.

Mr Darling has the advantage this year. On April 22nd he'll be able to stand up and announce his 2009 Budget and he'll be able to say, proudly, "I've listened to the views of the pub trade and in order to provide assistance to this industry I will be making no adjustments to the current taxation policies already in place." Or some other such similar politicspeak.

And lo the crowds will cheer, and then all the customers will complain when their beer goes up anyway because they'll all have forgotten that in last year's budget, Darling set in the motion the Alcohol Accelerator, the little bit of legislation that means duty will increase by more than the rate of inflation every year, without the Chancellor having to even mention it in his budget.

If Alistair Darling and the Treasury really want to listen, if they really want to help our trade right now, the least they can do is freeze the duty increases and cancel this stealth tax before it goes ahead. After all, we aren't like the automotive or banking industries: we aren't asking for bailouts, just relief.

In less than twelve months duty on alcohol has increased dramatically, on two separate occasions, further stifling the attempts of publicans to run their businesses, employ staff and make a living for themselves, whilst supermarkets have been able to swallow the rises and continue to pass ever-cheaper drinks deals to their customers.

The Publican magazine is asking licensees to put forward their concerns, queries and requests which will in turn be passed to the BBPA to be put to the Chancellor. Everybody should put in their ten-penneth.

Mr Darling, when you meet with the British Beer & Pub Association, please listen carefully. Banks aren't lending to anybody at the moment, especially small businesses and, even more critically, to pubs. Our cash is already tied up in taxation and increasing overheads and all our potential customers are hearing are tales of even more woe, a dying industry and the increasing cost of going out to enjoy themselves. We need "good news stories", we want our businesses to grow, we want to employ more staff, we want to offer people the chance to come out and enjoy themselves in fun and entertaining environments.

One hundred and Twenty One Members of Parliament have apparently signed a Parliamentary motion backing the industry's Axe the Beer Tax campaign; more than 20'000 people have joined the campaign's Facebook group. These aren't the frivolous acts of teenagers using the Internet; these are the voices of thousands of people whose lives, directly or indirectly, are being put under stress by the decisions you have made, and they want their voices to be heard.

Now is not a time to sit with your fingers in your ears, singing "la la la la la."