BII hits out at Government’s decison to increase beer duty

09-Apr-2003

The British Institute of Innkeeping (BII) has reacted angrily to today’s announcement by Chancellor Gordon Brown that beer duty is to be increased along with duty on wine.

The BII has campaigned strongly over the last decade for a cut in duty to bring Britain further into line with the rest of Europe. A recent BII report showed that the duty differential is fuelling a massive illegal trade in bootlegged alcohol and could be costing the Treasury over £1bn a year in lost revenue as well as encouraging underage drinking, with sales reported to children as young as eight.

Yet despite this conclusive evidence of the huge social and financial impacts from this illegal trade the Government has decided to increase duty – a move that effectively offers an immediate increase in profits for organised gangs of smugglers and will only exacerbate problems of underage and binge drinking caused by this unregulated trade.

Despite obvious costs incurred by the war in Iraq and concern over the financial markets, the BII believes there is no legitimate case for such an increase.

Figures put forward by the trade, and based on the Government’s own financial models, show that a cut in duty of only a few pence would have slashed profits for smugglers and saved the Treasury money in the long-term by increasing legitimate trade and easing social problems.

John McNamara, Chief Executive of the BII, said: "We are extremely concerned and disappointed at the Chancellor’s decision and we will be liasing with other trade bodies and our members in order to step up the fight for a duty cut. This increase will hit our members hard and could well lead to an increase in prices for customers – something the trade had hoped to avoid."

Notes to Editors

The BII is the professional body for the licensed trade. It has around 15,500 members and last year BIIAB processed over 80,000 qualifications. Its mission is to promote high standards of professionalism throughout the licensed retail sector; to encourage new entrants into the industry, and to help them develop their long-term careers. To provide all our members with high quality information, skills and qualifications to help them succeed in their business activities.

Ref: ES/BII/PR0678

Email: erica@bii.org

Contact: Erica Snedker, Communications Executive on 01276 417805 or Caroline Nodder, Corporate Communications Manager on 01276 417838/07855 841216.