Greg Mulholland again urges Treasury to scrap beer duty escalator

Speaking during Treasury questions, the chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group highlighted the importance of reduced duty for the brewing sector.

"It has been evident to see that as a result of the reduced duty under the Small Breweries Relief we now have a thriving brewing industry, with over 1,000 breweries in the UK, the most the UK has seen for over 70 years," said Mulholland. "This clearly shows that lower duty leads to growth, investment and jobs in the brewing sector and I urge the chancellor to make a vote of confidence in Britain’s brewers by finally scraping the beer duty escalator in the budget on 20 March.

“At the same time the Government are pursuing other pro-pub policies  including the promise to end the abuse in the pub sector by the large pub companies, these fantastic smaller breweries will have greater and fairer access to the market, which will lead to further investment, expansion and employment for these excellent small breweries.

“The Government should show some joined up thinking here and take this opportunity to scrap the unfair beer duty escalator to give a further boost to small breweries across the country, as well as publicans by ensuring that the large companies commit to pass on the reduced prices in their tied price lists to licensees.”

Earlier this month, MPs argued that a pint of beer is in danger of becoming a luxury item during a debate calling for a scrap of the escalator.