“The outlook is catastrophic for the alcohol sector”: the new British government wants to further increase the tax on pints of beer

Towards an increase in the price of a pint of beer in the United Kingdom? In any case, this is what Andy Burnham's new government is considering, which is presenting its first budget this Wednesday. Between inflation at 3.5% in September and borrowing costs which continue to soar, there is little room for maneuver.

So to clean up its public finances, the Minister of Finance, John Healey, will defend the increase in taxes on alcohol. In the case of a pint, this would increase from 50 to 52 pence. For a bottle of wine, the tax would increase from 10 to 12 pence, report our colleagues from the Telegraph.

Ads are disappearing in the United Kingdom This idea has sparked a lot of criticism among professionals in a sector that has already been weakened for several years. In the United Kingdom, more and more pubs are closing up shop. There were 60 there.

000 establishments at the beginning of the century, compared to around 45,000 now. “In a context of cost of living crisis and while the objective is to stimulate growth throughout the country, the government should support the British drinks sector, not stifle it,” recommends Miles Beale, general director of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association which represents more than 300 players in the sector.

In a statement, he observed that "businesses are already on the verge of bankruptcy after years of brutal increases in alcohol taxes." “If we add to this the other costs imposed by the government, such as property taxes, increased employment-related expenses, (...) and taxes on packaging, the outlook is catastrophic for the alcoholic beverages sector,” deplores the general director of the largest professional association in the beverage sector.

This Monday, on the ITV channel, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham promised "a budget which aims to give a little breathing room to people, to businesses too, and which helps to bring a little hope for the future".

Machine-translated from French