Members of Parliament have backed the campaign to support independent breweries and community pubs in the Chancellor's Autumn Budget.
MPs from across the political spectrum joined a Parliamentary event this week calling for the Chancellor to Drop the Tap Tax on 28 October which could boost the economy, create more jobs and see more pints in our pubs being served.
The Chancellor has the power to directly help pubs and breweries by dropping the tax on pub beer through a mechanism called Draught Relief. It’s currently set at a rate of 13.9% but independent breweries are calling for an extended rate of 30% or more.
Independent research from the Centre for Economic and Business Research (Cebr) shows that this could create 3,400 jobs, boost the economy by £137 million and see an extra 25 million pints being poured.
The Parliamentary event was organised by the Society of Independent Brewers and Associates (SIBA) and the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and enabled Members of Parliament to engage with the views of local brewers and industry specialists to discuss the way that the government taxes beer.
This comes at a time when the UK lost 137 independent brewers last year and two pubs a day were closing at the beginning of the year.
Barry Watts, Head of Public Affairs at SIBA commented:
“I’m grateful to MPs for supporting local independent brewers and giving their backing to the Drop the Tap Tax campaign. Lower beer tax in pubs is working to reduce the pressures on the sector and expanding this support could encourage more people back to the pub as well as creating more jobs and helping the economy .”
