Latest news with #UKSpiritsAlliance
The Sun
8 hours ago
- Business
- The Sun
Cost of supermarket booze set to soar after Labour clobbers brewers with extra £124million in taxes
BREWERS have warned of shop price hikes after being hit with a £124million tax on packaging. Ministers yesterday saddled beer and lager producers with a £192 a tonne charge for recycling their glass bottles. The Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), which puts them on the hook for the cost of council collection, sorting and recycling, has been branded a 'Bevy Levy'. The British Beer & Pub Association reckons it will put around 16p on a four-pack. Boss Emma McClarkin said: "By heaping a further £124million on brewers - the equivalent of 4p per 330ml bottle – these new fees sabotage the Chancellor's hopes for British businesses and will hit shoppers at the tills. 'To put it mildly, EPR could drive some brewers out of the glass bottle market and heap more costs on pubs which will only endanger jobs and growth. 'This is just not good enough given the barrage of rates and regulations the sector is already grappling with.' Alex MacDonald of the UK Spirits Alliance warned 'punishing fees' for glass will hurt business and raise the price of drinks for consumers. Earlier in the year Jeremy Clarkson used his Sun column to lash out at the Bevy Levy and all the other taxes crippling pubs like his, The Farmer's Dog. EPR makes producers responsible for the full eco lifecycle of their products, footing the cost of councils to collect, sort and recycle waste packaging. Labour plotting blitz on boozers with Budget 'sin tax' raid on pubs as Wes Streeting threatens outdoor smoking ban 1
Daily Mail
25-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Distillers attack Prime Minister over gin duty
Spirit makers have attacked Keir Starmer over his tax raid on their industry – undermining his boast that his trade deal with India delivered a major boost. The Prime Minister said that after the deal, distillers' 'only concern now is whether they can produce enough to sell'. But members of the UK Spirits Alliance, which represents 280 large and small drinks producers and bars, say higher taxes mean increasing exports is a 'pipe dream'. Duty on gin – which is the UK's favourite spirit by volume sales – increased by 3.65 per cent in February, after a 10.1 per cent increase in 2023, the trade body says. The latest hike was introduced in Chancellor Rachel Reeves's tax-raising Budget in October, alongside increases to the national minimum wage and employer National Insurance contributions. Although Starmer's deal with India has halved tariffs on UK whisky and gin from 150 per cent to 75 per cent, his comments last week have infuriated distillers. Karl Mason, director of Masons Gin in Aiskew, North Yorkshire, said: 'This claim from the Prime Minister is nonsense. Here in Yorkshire, we would love to take advantage of the new deal with India. Sadly, we can't. 'The situation at home is dire: taxes are through the ceiling; we're being hamstrung by a raft of regulations around things such as sustainability; and there is a constant talking down of our sector. 'We can't succeed abroad if we're barely able to survive at home.' Spirits are the highest-taxed type of alcohol in the UK, with 70 per cent of the cost of an average bottle going to the Exchequer's coffers, the UK Spirits Alliance says. Stephen Russell, founder and manager of Copper Rivet Distillery in Chatham, Kent, said: 'The high taxes we face at home makes the significant investments needed to build exports abroad a pipe dream. 'We need a fair tax regime at home in order to truly benefit from trade deals.' And Kevin Hollinrake MP, Conservative levelling up spokesman, said: 'Keir Starmer's claim that distillers' only problem is how they produce more is for the birds.' Edward Bailey, director of Tors Vodka, of Okehampton in Devon, also called for a 'fairer and stable alcohol duty system' which 'recognises the vital contribution businesses like mine make to jobs, communities and growth'. He added: 'Consistent regulatory measures here in the UK are essential for encouraging investment, supporting innovation and distilling long-term economic growth.'
