Freeze beer duty, brewer urges Chancellor

A MIDLANDS brewer has written to Staffordshire MPs urging them to back calls for Chancellor George Osborne to freeze beer duty in his forthcoming Budget.

Keith Bott, managing director of Burslem-based Titanic Brewery and chairman of the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), is calling on the Chancellor to ditch the controversial beer duty escalator.

A rise in duty in the Budget on March 21 would mean duty on beer will have risen by 42% in just four years.

Titanic Brewery wants the local MPs to show their support for the local beer and pub trade by signing up to a Parliamentary motion, EDM 2785, or by writing to the Treasury urging it to recognise the unfairness of the duty escalator.

The motion follows the publication of a new report last week showing the huge impact that brewing and pubs have on the economy and supports a wide campaign led by the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and the Society of Independent Brewers (SIBA), to freeze beer duty and scrap the controversial beer duty escalator.

Bott said: “With 300,000 young people employed in the industry it is clear that with the right policies in place, pubs could be an engine for growth and create new jobs for young people.

“The Government must now call time on this unfair policy which is destroying jobs in a traditional British industry.

“We need the Chancellor to stop the beer tax escalator to ensure a strong brewing industry which provides local beer and local jobs for local people.”

Titanic Brewery has six pubs in North and Mid-Staffordshire. It employs 150 people in its Burslem brewery and in its pubs.