Beer Duty Escalator

Albert Owen Excerpts

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Albert Owen (Ynys Môn) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to speak in the debate and I pay tribute to the hon. Members for Burton (Andrew Griffiths) and for Leeds North West (Greg Mulholland) for securing the debate. I am happy to be a co-sponsor of the motion, which is very important.

I have only five minutes, so I cannot list the fine establishments in my constituency. I would be a fool to miss some of them out, so I will not attempt to list them. I do not have any major breweries, either, but I want to give the debate a different dimension and add something new. People have quite rightly promoted their public houses and breweries, but there is an important link between the breweries and the pubs—that is, between the suppliers and the distribution industry. In rural and periphery areas, they are vital in getting the product to the licensed outlets, whether they are clubs, pubs or hotels. In periphery areas such as mine, and in many other parts of the country, visitors make a very important contribution to the local economy. They use the public houses for their leisure activities and we need to put the multiplier effect into its proper context. Hundreds of millions of pounds are generated by the tourism industry and the public house is key to that. It is not just a local pub, but a centre of attraction for visitors.

[Mr Graham Stuart (Beverley and Holderness) (Con)]

The hon. Gentleman is making a very important point, particularly about the knock-on impact of pub closures in rural areas. The Great Newsome brewery, a small brewery in my constituency, has seen six of the pubs it supplies close in just the last two years. Evidence has shown that each pub puts £80,000 into the local community and makes the East Riding of Yorkshire a more attractive place for tourists. The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right and I hope that we will see a change of direction from the Government.

[Albert Owen]

I am grateful to the hon. Gentleman. I am very fond of going to Yorkshire. I went to university there and regularly visit York and the fine pubs in that area, so I might come to Humberside and the east coast at some point.

The suppliers are important small and medium-sized enterprises. A family business in my constituency, Joseph Keegan and Sons, wrote to me. It has been established for many years and supplies the area and its concerns are about beer duty and fuel duty, too. Many companies have been hit by the high levels of fuel duty when transporting their goods, so there is a double whammy of which the Minister must take note in his review.

The motion before the House is very moderate, because all it calls for is a review. The hon. Member for Leeds North West, in his measured contribution to the debate, was right to say that Members across the House have supported escalators when there was a need to do so. The beauty of an escalator is that we can get on or off it when the conditions are right, so the Government would not lose face by coming off it. A previous Conservative Government brought in the fuel duty escalator and then came off it when they thought that was necessary, so that can happen quite simply.

[Andrew Griffiths]

I agree completely with the hon. Gentleman’s point about the rising cost of fuel for brewers. He will also be aware of the rising cost of the raw materials that brewers must purchase and the falling incomes of households across the country.

[Albert Owen]

The hon. Gentleman is absolutely right. We are talking about the business of pubs, clubs, hotels and suppliers, but we must also consider the producers. Much of the problem is beyond the control of Governments and the terrible weather this summer has affected the price of raw materials, and that all has an impact on costs.

I want to talk, as many Members have done, about the social value of the pub as a hub in our towns and villages. My hon. Friend the Member for Hartlepool (Mr Wright), who is no longer in his place, said that Hartlepool once had the highest concentration of pubs in the country, a claim that many of us could make for our constituencies. In the port communities of Holyhead and Amlwch in my constituency there is certainly a tradition of pubs, but they are more than just public houses serving food and drink; they are social hubs. Many local sports clubs meet in the public houses, particularly in the winter when they cannot train. I have known one or two rugby and football clubs that spend an awful lot of time in pubs; they get their business over with very quickly and then get on to the drinking and the sandwiches. The pub is an important place for people to meet in those communities.

I pay tribute to the hon. Members who tabled this important motion. Yes, it is specifically about beer duty, but I am sure that the Minister and the Treasury will take on board all the points that have been made today. It is nonsense to impose a duty that does not make any money for the Treasury. That is the nub of the debate. But many other issues have been raised by Members in their contributions. It is worth emphasising the importance of the pub, but we must not forget the supply chains that help the pub, hotel and catering industries across the United Kingdom, which are major contributors to the British economy.

I will draw my remarks to a close as I know that other Members wish to speak. I do not want to walk past pubs in my constituency with “For Sale” signs outside, and I do not want to see empty pubs; I want to be invited by members of the local community to open a pub, because I want to see a renaissance of the great British pub in both rural and urban communities across the country. The Government can make a difference by having the review and looking at its results and, if it shows that the duty is cost-neutral or loses the Treasury money, they will have my backing for coming off the escalator and putting the emphasis on the great British pub.