§ Mr. George Gardinerasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on sales and therefore on revenue of reducing duty on wine; and, pursuant to the Minister of State's statement on 3 December 1980, Official Report, c. 576, what reduction to ensure a fiscally neutral effect could be made in wine duty to secure a three to one ratio between the duties on wine and beer if duty on beer was left unchanged.
§ Mr. Peter Rees[pursuant to his reply, 24 February 1981, c. 312]: If the duty on wine were to be reduced, I would expect sales of wine to increase, but not sufficiently to offset the effect on the duty yield of the rate reduction. Reducing the duty on wine to achieve a three to one ratio between the wine and beer duties could not be fiscally neutral if the beer duty were to be left unchanged. As I said in the House on 3 December last—[Vol. 995, c. 576]—a three to one ratio could be achieved on a fiscally neutral basis by increasing the duty on beer by ½p a pint and reducing it on table wine by about 17p a bottle.