All the campaigning, all that lobbying. Dashed for another year in just 18 weasel words and a phrase that belied the bitter reality that tax on the UK’s national drink was going up, above inflation, yet again.
Like everyone else involved in campaigning for fairer beer duty, I was disappointed, but unsurprised. It had been clear for some time that the message wasn’t getting through.
Within 48 hours, a new announcement affecting the sector came out, rather unexpectedly — that the Government
was going to introduce a minimum price, probably of 40p per unit of alcohol.
It was suggested by the opposition that the strange timing was to take focus off the Budget. What it certainly did for the beer and pub sectors was to divert attention from another hike in beer duty and on to whether a minimum price would be good for pubs.
There are those who have claimed the biggest problem facing pubs has been the huge gap in the price of a drink in the supermarkets, compared to the on-trade. One thing that is certainly true is that these people — and pubcos especially — will no longer be able to claim, once minimum pricing is in, that this remains the case to the same extent.
But will it help pubs at all? Whatever people think of minimum pricing — and it is a divisive issue — it is not the silver bullet its proponents claim it is. It will neither magically stop problem drinking, nor will it be the saviour for the British pub. But it is happening and we hope pubs will benefit.
However, what is key is to tell the Government it is time to put warm words into action. Pubs are indeed part of the solution to antisocial drinking — and that means pubs and beer must be treated more favourably by national and local taxation to assist that. We need this commitment at the heart of a strategy, alongside education, health and the Home Office.
We need fairer, lower, beer duty; we need lower rates for community pubs and we want a differential in tax, be that in duty or VAT, between the on and off-trade, so policies don’t only penalise, they encourage and support. So we have 51 weeks to the next Budget and we want one that recognises the positive contribution that pubs make. The campaign to make that happen starts now.