CAMRA claims cut in beer duty has saved over 1,000 pubs and created 26,000 jobs

By Arabella Mileham

Published: 23 February, 2015

The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) is calling on the government to cut the beer duty for the third year in a row as a report out today highlights the boost scrapping the duty escalator in last year's Budget has given the industry.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) is calling on the government to cut the beer duty for the third year in a row as a report out today highlights the boost scrapping the duty escalator in last year's Budget has given the industry.

The report published by the Centre for Economic and Business Research (CEBR) claims that 1,047 pubs have been saved from closure in 2014 alone following the scrapping of the duty escalator. It said the brewing industry has benefited from £61m of investment it would not otherwise have had and around 26,000 additional jobs have been created.

Scott Corfe, head of UK Macroeconomics at Cebr said the research showed beer duty cuts had provided a "significant economic boost" to an industry that supports thousands of jobs across the UK. Camra has previously claimed that 870,000 jobs are dependent on the beer and pub industry.

It comes at a time when the wine and spirits industry is calling for parity with the beer industry in its Drop the Duty campaign urging the Chancellor to introduce a 2% cut in duty in the March Budget.

Camra's chief executive Tim Page said the duty cuts had had a real impact on beer drinkers and pub goers. "Without these measures fewer people would be able to afford a regular pint in their local pub, and yet more pubs would have closed. Reductions in beer tax have helped keep pubs open, created new jobs and kept increases in the cost of beer at a historic low."

The introduction of 1p cuts on the price of beer in 2013 and 2014 had stopped the price of a pint rising by 16p, the report found, and as a result, 750m more pints had been sold in the financial year.

Andrew Griffiths MP, the chair of the Parliamentary Beer Group said the Chancellor has already shown commitment to the beer and pub industries, but there was still more to do. "I hope that the Chancellor will build on the positive moves so far and make it a hat trick of beer duty cuts in the Budget in March," he said.

The beer duty escalator was introduced in 2008 and added at least 2% above inflation to the price of beer year-on-year. Between 2008-2012 there was a 42% rise in beer duty, which CAMRA said had a disastrous effect on the British beer industry.

* You can still take part in the Drop the Duty campaign and lobby your MP to call on the Chancellor to cut duty in the March Budget.

Printer friendly version