MPs vote against axing duty escalator

A move to get alcohol duty rates slashed has been thrown out by MPs.

Lib Dem MPs tabled a motion to have the alcohol tax escalator - that sees duty go up two per cent above inflation every year - scrapped.

But in a vote yesterday 311 MPs voted against the move with only 62 in favour.

Speaking during the debate Lib Dem for Taunton Jeremy Browne said: "Beer sales dropped by 8.2 per cent in the first quarter of 2009, and since the Budget last year 2,200 pubs have closed.

"The opportunities for people to buy beer are diminishing rapidly as pubs close, and the total beer sales in all outlets are falling, so the amount of revenue that the government is collecting is off a diminishing base.

"I fear that any assumptions that the government make about increasing revenue from above-inflation beer duty increases may not be borne out by their experience when they come to add up the money that they hope will come into their coffers."

Speaking after the meeting, Greg Mulholland, Lib Dem MP and chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group, said: "It is essential that pubs are offered as much assistance as possible in these economically difficult times in order that they are able to continue to serve the communities in which they exist.

"By voting against the lowering of duty the government has signalled once again that it is not interested in the future of the British pub industry."

Last year industry campaign, Axe the Beer Tax, gained widespread support, but failed to stop the government continuing to add two per cent to alcohol duty.