Chancellor Gordon Brown has put a penny on a pint of beer and 4p on a bottle of wine in what is believed to be the last budget before the General Election.

Duties on cider, sparkling wine, and spirits have been frozen, but the cost of a pack of cigarettes will rise by 7p.

The chancellor's decision to target beer met with criticism from the Campaign for Real Ale.

Chief executive Mark Benner said: "A penny might not sound like much, but today's tax rise follows wholesale beer price rises by some brewers. Some pubs will now be charging as much as 10p a pint more than they were only a month ago."

Brown: taxing drinkers

The Wine and Spirit Association was equally cynical. Director Quentin Rappoport said: "Once again the chancellor is masking the blow dealt to the wine industry behind the seemingly innocuous face of an inflationary rise of 4p on a bottle of wine. Increases in line with inflation, however small, have an impact on the growth rate of the wine sector."

Brown hailed what he called the "longest period of economic growth since records began in 1701" and forecast growth of 3% to 3.5% this year and 2.5% to 3% in 2006.

Other key points to come out of the budget included moves to lighten the burden of red tape on industry.

The chancellor indicated that 35 government agencies would be slimmed down to five - including regulatory bodies such as the FSA and the health and safety and fire safety inspectorates.

A BHA spokesman warmly welcomed the move. He said: "We're extremely pleased that there'll be a more risk-focused regulation. We've been arguing for a while that the Government needed to lighten the regulatory burden on the industry. We look forward to seeing more detail."

Budget highlights

• 1p on a pint of beer
• 4p on a bottle of wine
• 7p on a pack of cigarettes
• Freeze on sparkling wine, spirits and cider
• Freeze on corporation and capital gains tax
• 35 regulatory bodies slimmed down to five and lighter inspection burden

 

by Tom Bill

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