The Budget & Beer: the power of and limits to campaigning
In Wednesday’s Budget the Chancellor announced what he claimed, arguably correctly, were the biggest changes in beer taxation since Gladstone in 1880.
Not all of the changes are set in stone and are subject to further consultation. That means they won’t be happening yet.
The changes to the strength level at which ‘normal’ duty is levied, which will boost beer under 3.5% (previously 3%) are welcome.
The decision to reduce draught beer duty does reflect the impact of campaigning by CAMRA and SIBA. The aim is to do something to address the price differential between beer sold in supermarkets and that sold in pubs and hence get more people to visit pubs. A cut in duty is unusual and we will no doubt be hearing from temperance campaigners in due course (although I doubt they have too much to worry about- see below).
The point has rightly been made that since the duty cut applies to 40 litre containers and above it excludes most of craft beer production which is in 30 litre containers. That decision is not yet final and campaigning could change it.
As things stand it will benefit bigger and big beer over smaller brewers. I tend to think that global big beer has other things to do than lobbying the Tories for duty changes when it is already doing very nicely, although I’m sure it wont be complaining. Bigger beer, the remaining regional brewers, selling cask beer will certainly have been lobbying (behind the scenes) and some have links to the Tories.
As has been seen with the still to be determined changes to Small Brewers Duty Relief the regional brewers are no friends of craft brewers in many instances.
Sunak heralded this and the pro-Tory media followed, as a cut in the price of a pint at the bar. I’m not so sure about that although of course some pub companies will seize the publicity. Step forward a Mr Martin, where Wetherspoons will sell Greene King IPA for 99p in England during November.
There has been a good deal of complaint from pub campaigns that of course the price of a pint wont go down, what about all the costs they face as small businesses etc. A fair point although it does tend to be the kind of thing some small businesses say while not paying their staff decently.
However there is a wider point, well made by Aditya Chakrabortty in the Guardian (28th October) Sunak didn’t reinforce Tory austerity but instead in some cases simply reset spending to 2010 levels without addressing what’s happened since. That means that in practice people will be hit with a range of increased taxes that probably won’t be offset by higher wages in many cases.
Even if the price of a pub pint is reduced by a few pence numbers won’t be able to afford it. There is a wider campaign that very much needs to be fought
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