Can we axe the tax?

When Alistair Darling announced he was whacking another eight per cent on alcohol duty it was like the whole industry was dealt an unexpected blow to the solar plexus.

Unlike the vast majority of businesses, our sector would not benefit at all from the reduction in VAT to 15 per cent, proving, as if any further proof was needed that the Chancellor really has no time for the pub trade.

But now that the industry has just about managed to get its collective breath back surely this has provided an opportunity for licensees, trade groups and other interested parties to team-up and campaign together?

This is certainly what the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) and the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) hoped when they launched the Axe the Beer Tax - Save the Pub Campaign.

Early indications suggest it will get plenty of support with more than 7,000 people already signing up to be members of the campaign's online Facebook group.

As BBPA chief executive Rob Hayward said at the launch in Westminster: "The Chancellor has rightly decided the whole British economy needs relief from recession - except for one part of it. It is hard to avoid the conclusion that a great British tradition is being abandoned.

"This campaign will provide a voice to those who want to save the great British pub - and we urge everyone to sign up."

And people are doing so, in their thousands.

Michael Kheng, who runs the Kurnia Group which operates pubs in Lincolnshire, was quick to add his support.

"We are calling on the Chancellor to abandon plans to raise beer taxes in future budgets. Our message, on behalf of our customers, is - enough is enough," he said.

So can this campaign do what lobbying has failed to do in recent years and get the government to notice, let alone care, about the plight of the trade?

Last week the government finally showed it is not entirely obdurate by responding to calls from spirits groups to drop tax on its sector from eight per cent to four per cent.

Hayward has called for a meeting with Darling to see if similar measures could be introduced in the pub trade but so far this request has fallen on deaf ears.

And there are some in the sector who remain unconvinced Axe the Beer Tax can work.

Campaign group Justice for Licensees, which boasts around 2,000 members, says it has been fighting on all issues affecting the trade for well over a year and had invited the BBPA to join forces.

Founding member and Cornwall-based Enterprise Inns licensee Inez Ward said: "This has a feeling of hijacking about it.

"Our campaign is a multi-faceted campaign covering all the issues that are bringing this great trade to its knees - including legislation - we have always been of the opinion that the only way forward is for the whole trade to unite and fight the adversities it is facing as a united front."

However it was always unlikely that a campaign that overtly criticizes the pubcos would ever be supported by the BBPA.

Liberal Democrat MP Greg Mulholland has also been critical.

He held a meeting with major players from the industry in April in a bid to start a united 'save the pub' campaign against beer tax.

"There has never been a greater need for the pub trade and all who care about the British pub to speak with one voice about the situation faced by pubs and publicans, yet the BBPA has ignored that and has gone off and done its own thing," said Mulholland.

He added: "As the licensing minister made clear, there are different messages coming from different associations and this makes it easier for government to ignore the needs of pubs and the pub trade, which it continues to do."

But there is already some support building within the corridors of power.

Ben Chapman, Labour MP for Wirral South described the Chancellors latest hike on beer as "barmy" at the campaign launch.

He added: "Our pubs are the envy of the world, encouraging moderate drinking and providing a calm, sociable atmosphere in which people of different ages and backgrounds can come together."

But whether Darling or whoever is next in line for his job will ever see the benefits the pub trade brings to the country remains to be seen.

Axe the Beer Tax - Save the Pub Manifesto

The campaign is not just about tax, below are its five 'demands'

• To stop plans to increase beer tax by up to a third?

• To enforce existing laws - not create new ones - to deal firmly with irresponsible drinkers and premises?

• To end the irresponsible promotion of alcohol in supermarkets, pubs and elsewhere?

• To trust responsible adults to make informed choices about what they drink, not punish them for the actions of an irresponsible minority??

• To support the British pub as a vital part of social life in local communities.?

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