CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale, has announced it is writing to MPs to urge them to support a new campaign to persuade the European Union to amend existing rules preventing the UK Government supporting pubs by introducing a lower rate of beer duty for draught beer sold in pubs.
John Grogan MP, chairman of the Parliamentary Beer Group, is leading the campaign and today tabled a parliamentary motion calling on the UK Government to seek a change to European Union rules.
A reduced rate of duty on beer sold in pubs would help alleviate the severe problems facing UK pubs, which are closing at a rate of more than six a day.
The European Commission has indicated that it is willing to consider changes to current European Union rules and a review process is expected later this year.
Mike Benner, CAMRA chief executive, said: "A lower rate of duty on draught beer sold in pubs would represent a golden opportunity for the government to address the disparity between supermarket and pub prices, a problem directly associated with pub closures.
"This proposal would encourage a shift in alcohol consumption back to the regulated environment offered by well-run community pubs. This proposal would also stem the loss of community pubs and thereby reverse the decline of community life.¹
Benner continued: "CAMRA first raised the need for a lower rate of duty in pubs in a submission to the Parliamentary Beer Group¹s Community Pub Inquiry back in 2006, and we are delighted that this novel idea has the full backing of the influential Parliamentary Beer Group.
"An average pint of beer sold in the pub causes the consumer to swallow around 90 pence per pint in beer duty, VAT and employment tax revenue, and if community pubs are to survive, then the excessive tax burden they face must be reduced."