Subscriber login Close [x]
remember me
You are not logged in.

Budget Latest: WSTA's Miles Beale says Chancellor has given drinks industry "perfect result"

Published:  19 March, 2015

Miles Beale, chief executive, of the Wine & Spirit Trade Association has described the Chancellor's decision to freeze wine duty and cut spirits by 2% as "just about the perfect result" it could have hoped from its Drop the Duty campaign.

Drop the DutyMiles Beale, WSTA ceo and David Frost, ceo at SWA

Miles Beale, chief executive, of the Wine & Spirit Trade Association has described the Chancellor's decision to freeze wine duty and cut spirits by 2% as "just about the perfect result" it could have hoped from its Drop the Duty campaign.

He told Harpers.co.uk that yesterday's announcement by George Osborne could have more positive knock-on effects if there is a further Budget this year, or next, following May's General Election.

Beale said the wine duty freeze and 2% drop in spirits duty was at the "high water mark" of what they privately hoped for from its Drop the Duty campaign.

"It was also the best result we have had from the Chancellor in 18 years," said Beale.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne walks out before presenting his annual budget to Parliament at 11 Downing StreetChancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne walks out before presenting his annual budget to Parliament at 11 Downing Street

The decision on spirits was a major breakthrough, he added, and that in reality he had "expected wine to be less well served" so a duty freeze was the best it could have hoped for.

The initiative followed on from last year's Call Time on Duty campaign that helped see the end of the duty escalator on alcohol.

It once again looked to galvanise not only the trade's support but also that of the general public by urging individuals to directly lobby and email their local MP to take up the case of a cut in duty with the Chancellor.

Beale said he was particularly excited by "the language" the Chancellor used when explaining why he was freezing wine duty. He said he was doing so in order to "help" wine businesses in the UK.

In his Budget statement Osborne said: "To support the UK's growing wine industry, the duty on will be frozen. Beer and wine duties will continue to be broadly similar."

The WSTA said the cost of the wine and spirits measures is £100m and inflation (should they have had a rise) would have been 0.9%

In the subsequent Office for Budget Responsiblity statement following the Budget it said: "Alcohol duty is expected to increase from £10.7billion to £12.2billion between 2014-15 an"d 2019-20. Within this total, receipts from wine and spirits are expected to increase by £1.0billion and £0.6billion respectively, while beer and cider duties are expected to fall by £0.1 billion.

"We have revised down the expected growth in wine receipts over the forecast period. This reflects smaller duty rises, resulting from lower RPI inflation and measures, and a reassessment of wine consumption. After strong growth in wine clearances in the previous decade, clearances in the past few years have been broadly flat. We now assume that wine consumption will grow in line with overall consumer spending over the forecast period."

The statement and follow up OBR statement showed, argued Beale, that the Treasury had "listened" to the trade's evidence and that the industry had succeeded in making the "business case" for the Chancellor to take real action on alcohol duty.

"This is a significant improvement on last year," stressed Beale. "The language the Chancellor used is really encouraging. It gives us confidence that we have made the business case about wine duty rates in the UK."

He said the WSTA will now be writing to all MPs who take part in the Drop the Duty campaign to thank them for their support and call on them to help in future Budgets. "These are our future supporters," said Beale.

"We are grateful to those MPs who listened to their constituents and supported our campaign and hope that all parties are able to support the measures outlined today and build on them in the next Parliament."

The spirits campaign achieved exactly what it set out to do and will be a "massive boost" to the industry, said Beale.

He also praised the work of Harpers and its readers in really getting behind the campaign and making sure it had support from all sectors of the industry. 

"It really made a big difference," said Beale.