BII Responds To The Budget - March 2008
13-Mar-2008
BII Chief Executive John McNamara commented: “I represent the views of BII when I say that I’m bitterly disappointed with the budget announcement. It includes the most severe increase in alcohol duty in living memory. Clearly, the Chancellor has ignored the intense representations made to him by all the industry bodies and thousands of our members – most of them frontline licensees – who wrote to their MPs over the last few months to point out the need to refrain from implementing a ‘knee jerk’ increase in duty.”
The facts:
- The tax burden on alcohol will increase by 6% from 17th March 2008
- Duty on beer will go up by 4p per pint, wine up by 14p per bottle and spirits by 55p a bottle
- The ten year policy of freezing duty on spirits is ended. A new alcohol duty escalator will increase duties by 2% over inflation for the next four years
- The implication is that the increases will help to curb anti-social behaviour and the binge-drinking culture. We contend that the reverse is true
The real world scenario:
- Beer sales in pubs are at their lowest since the 1930s – down seven million pints a day since 1979
- Spiralling costs, including energy and grain, combined with the impact of smoke-free legislation are putting thousands of small community pubs – vital for local areas – at great risk. Indeed, the closure rate is currently 27 per week
- In other high alcohol tax economies (
- The real solution is education, with initiatives such as the BII Schools Project, which promotes the Level 1 Certificate in Alcohol Awareness for teenagers and young adults, and has already reached around 20,000 young people
John concluded: “BII will continue to support our members, and the industry as a whole, through these very difficult times. We do this in many ways – for example, we produce a highly regarded monthly magazine called BII Business, which contains information on our wide range of business support services, one of which is a free legal helpline.
“We ensure our website is always up-to-date with the latest industry news and legislation changes, and we constantly monitor the BIIAB’s portfolio of qualifications and develop new ones to meet the needs of the industry. We also organise events and initiatives throughout the year and one such example is this year’s Better Business Roadshow, which kicked off in
| michellel@bii.org | |
| Contact | Michelle Luscombe Corporate Communications Manager 01276 417863 |
