Beer Duty Escalator

Bob Stewart Excerpts

Thursday 1st November 2012 Commons Chamber

[Charlotte Leslie]

That, too, is a good point. More than a million people are employed in the pub industry in this country, and more than half of them are young people. Pub employment not only constitutes an important first step on the jobs ladder, but provides a great opportunity for career progression. People learn a multitude of skills that will be useful in future careers.

I think that the Government have done quite well. The appointment of a pubs Minister was a very good move—I am sure that we all wish to pay tribute to the previous pubs Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Bromley and Chislehurst (Robert Neill), for the work that he did, and to welcome the new Minister—and, having produced the Live Music Act 2012, localism and the right to buy, we are now making progress with minimum pricing. All that is good stuff. However, pubs are still closing at the rate of about 12 a week, and we need to do more.

Given that beer represents about 60% of sales in community pubs, it is not very surprising that the beer duty escalator is having such a dramatic impact. It is true that there are other factors, such as social and demographic changes and the fact that, as my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds North West pointed out, it is so easy to sell a pub and turn it into a Tesco—we have probably all seen that happen—and issues involving pub companies and pub ties also need to be considered. However, the escalator is a major component of the problem. Given that all the beneficial elements are being stripped away as pubs close, and that beer sales fell by 5.6% in the third quarter of this year, it is hardly surprising that the Treasury’s own figures show that the escalator is not doing what it is supposed to do and raising funds.

[Bob Stewart (Beckenham) (Con)]

We have already demonstrated that the beer duty escalator will not increase the finances going to the Treasury, so why the heck do we have to wait until the Budget? Why cannot a Minister make a decent decision and scrap it?

[Charlotte Leslie]

I think that many of us would like the Minister to make a snap decision and scrap it, but this debate is about a review, and that is an important first step if we want accountability. I should prefer a quicker decision, as I am sure would many other people, because my hon. Friend is right: every day while the escalator continues, pubs are closing, including historic pubs such as the Lamplighters in my constituency. We are struggling to save the Lamplighters, and Pete Bridle, of the local branch of CAMRA, has been fantastic in that regard. Although it is a review for which we are asking, there is definitely a degree of urgency.

So what can we do? Let us get the review done, and I think that its conclusions will be pretty clear. We must also press on with minimum pricing, and we must tackle the discrepancy between off-trade and on-trade alcohol prices. The damaging social effects of cut-price booze in supermarkets are plain for all to see. One solution may be to deal with the discrepancy between pub and supermarket licensing fees. At present, any pub with a rateable value of more than £87,000 pays fees two or three times higher than those paid by a supermarket with an equivalent rateable value, because the multiplier for pubs does not apply to supermarkets. If the Treasury is concerned about tax revenue, we could act now to produce a far more tax-neutral measure.

Let us look at what is at stake. If we end the escalator fast, we can save 5,000 jobs a year—an estimated 16,000 over three years—we can secure a national foundation stone of the big society, which I know is important to our Government; and we can secure our great British beer industry and the pride of Britain, our pubs. I urge the Minister and the Government to end this disastrous beer duty escalator with all speed.