HC Deb 04 June 1981 vol 5 cc1064-5
14. Mr. Parry

asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what representations he has received concerning possible further increases in duty on beer.

Mr. Lawson

A small number of letters has been received. Most of the letters request no further increase in the beer duty.

Mr. Parry

Is the Financial Secretary aware that the price of a pint of beer has increased to a greater extent in the United Kingdom than in any EEC country, excluding the Republic of Ireland, over the last two years? The duty on a pint of beer has increased by 70 per cent. in the last two years. Does not he accept that he is pricing a pint of beer out of the reach of the working man's pocket—his only luxury under this Tory Government?

Mr. Lawson

The increase of 70 per cent. in the duty on beer over the first three Budgets of this Government needs to be put in perspective. In the first three spring Budgets of the right hon. Member for Leeds, East (Mr. Healey) the beer duty was increased by 130 per cent. The hon. Gentleman argues that the price of beer has been put beyond the working man's pocket. That can be disproved, I believe, by venturing into any public house in the United Kingdom. If the hon. Gentleman wants figures, the beer duty today, in real terms, is below the level at which it stood in 1976.

Mr. Nicholas Winterton

I declare an interest as non-executive chairman of Camra Real Ale Investments Ltd. Is my right hon. Friend aware that beer drinking is one of the great traditions of the United Kingdom? Is he aware that by imposing a disproportionately higher increase on beer than on wine in order to soak up the wine lake that has developed in Europe, for which the United Kingdom has no responsibility, many brewery workers are losing their jobs? As the hon. Member for Liverpool, Scotland Exchange (Mr. Parry) says, we are almost pricing beer out of the reach of the ordinary working man and woman in this country

Mr. Lawson

There is no evidence whatever that any jobs lost in the brewing industry over the past year have been the result of the increase in the duty on beer. There have been other reasons. My hon. Friend will be aware that my right hon. and learned Friend also increased the duty on wines and spirits in the Budget.