MP backs calls to abandon hike in beer duty

Jim Dobbin MP

Heywood and Middleton MP, Jim Dobbin, has called on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to back Britain’s beer and pub sector by calling time on planned punitive tax increases in the Budget.

Mr Dobbin has signed a House of Commons motion (Early Day Motion 2785) supporting pleas from industry and consumer groups, including the British Beer and Pub Association, the Society of Independent Brewers and the Campaign for Real ale, for the Chancellor to abandon the planned +5 per cent hike in beer duty, saving 16,000 jobs over the next three years.

According to new analysis by leading economists, Oxford Economics for the British Beer and Pub Association: 

• The beer and pub sector sustains 1396 jobs in the Heywood and Middleton constituency.
• This includes 468 jobs for 16-24 year olds, who have been hit hard by the economic slowdown.
• The sector adds £33.8 million to the local economy.
• The sector also contributes £23 million in taxes to the exchequer.
• In total the beer and pub sector supports almost 1 million UK jobs and 46% of those employed in the sector are 16 to 24 year olds. 

Mr Dobbin, said: “We can see from these figures how important the brewing and pub sector is for the Heywood and Middleton area.

“I hope that the Chancellor will act to protect these jobs by scrapping the beer duty escalator. This would help to sustain our much-loved local pubs, the communities that they serve and the local facilities that they provide.”