Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what analysis his Department has undertaken on the reasons for the difference between current alcohol duty receipts and the Office for Budget Responsibility’s November 2023 forecast.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Office for Budget Responsibility’s June 2026 Forecast Evaluation Report sets out changes made to the alcohol duty forecast methodology to revise the forecast down at Budget 2025 - FERs - Office for Budget Responsibility. The Office for Budget Responsibility will publish an updated Alcohol Duty forecast at Budget 2026.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of UK excise duty levels on the ability of UK spirits producers to compete internationally.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
UK alcohol duty is not charged on exports. To support spirits producers, the Government has:
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether his Department has undertaken analysis of the excise duty regime by alcohol content by unit to identify different practices between different types of alcohol such as spirits, wine and cider.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
The Government is evaluating the 2023 alcohol duty reforms in line with the commitment to do so three years after they took effect. This evaluation will consider the impacts of the application of a strength-based duty calculation to all products.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, for what reason the Evaluation of Alcohol Duty Reforms, published on 20 April 2026, does not consider the effect of duty rates on receipts; and if he will widen its scope to include that effect.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
On 20 April 2026 the Government published a page on Gov.uk setting out the objectives, scope and process of the Evaluation of the Alcohol Duty Reforms - Evaluation of Alcohol Duty Reforms - GOV.UK. The Evaluation will consider the extent to which the reforms have met their objectives.
The Government carefully considers the extent to which changes to alcohol duty policy impact receipts as part of the Budget process.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of increases in spirits duty since 1 August 2023 on (a) the volume of spirits sold in the UK and (b) spirits duty receipts.
Answered by James Murray - Financial Secretary to the Treasury and Paymaster General
HMRC publishes the latest alcohol duty receipts and clearance statistics in its Alcohol Bulletin, including a separate series for spirits receipts and clearances - Alcohol Bulletin - GOV.UK.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate her Department has made of the value of the UK spirits sector to the economy in (a) employment, (b) exports and (c) tax revenue.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
(a) The Office for National Statistics' Business Register and Employment Survey (2023 edition) estimates total (part-time and full-time) employment in Great Britain for the Distilling; rectifying and blending of spirits industry is 13,700 workers.
(b) HMRC’s overseas trade data estimates that the value of UK spirits exports (excluding undenatured ethyl alcohol) in the 2024 calendar year was £6.6 billion.
(c) HMRC’s tax receipt statistics indicate that the value of alcohol duty paid on spirits for 2024 to 2025 is £4.2 billion.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what the annual value is of UK spirits exports; and what proportion of overall exports those exports were in the last five years.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is responsible for the collection and publication of data on imports and exports of goods to and from the UK which includes data on exports of spirits. HMRC releases this information monthly, as an Accredited Official Statistic called the Overseas Trade in Goods Statistics (OTS), which is available via their dedicated website (www.uktradeinfo.com).
From this website, it is possible to build your own data tables based upon bespoke search criteria. To build a table, you will need the commodity codes for spirits. These codes are publicly available from the UK Trade Tariff at https://www.gov.uk/trade-tariff. Commodity codes for spirits would come under Chapter 22.
The annual trade figures for total exports can be found at uktradeinfo.com/trade-data/overseas/. The last available figures are for July 2025.
If you need help or support in constructing a table from the data on uktradeinfo, please contact [email protected].
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of excise duty rates on the competitiveness of (a) UK and (b) European distillers; and what fiscal steps she is taking to help support the domestic distilling industry.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The UK spirits industry makes a vital contribution to our economy and society, with Scotch Whisky remaining the UK’s most successful food and drink export enjoyed by consumers across the globe.
UK alcohol duty is not charged on exports.
There is significant variation in alcohol taxation policy amongst European countries. The World Health Organization recently published a comparison of alcohol taxes across the WHO European Region, which can be found here: https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289061940 .
The UK’s alcohol taxes are generally lower than Sweden and Norway’s, and comparable to the Republic of Ireland and Finland.
Regarding support for the spirits industry, I refer the hon member to the answer that I gave to PQ UIN 80562
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she plans to review excise duty rates on (a) spirits, (b) wine and (c) beer.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
The baseline assumption, shared by the Government and the Office for Budget Responsibility, is that alcohol duty will be increased annually in line with the Retail Price Index, so that it does not fall in real terms.
As with all taxes, the Government welcomes representations from stakeholders to inform policy development.
The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events, and her fiscal rules require day-to-day spending to be fully paid for through tax receipts.
Asked by: Carolyn Harris (Labour - Neath and Swansea East)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps her Department is taking to help support the growth of independent distilleries in rural areas.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (Cabinet Office) (Jointly with HM Treasury)
Following public consultation, a new duty structure for alcohol products was introduced in August 2023.
The alcohol duty system taxes all alcohol products according to their strength, so the duty owed increases with alcohol content. The system is also progressive, ensuring that higher strength products pay proportionately more tax
The 2023 reforms significantly reduced previous inconsistencies in treatment between different types of alcohol product and introduced two new reliefs: Draught Relief (DR); and Small Producer Relief (SPR).
DR enables products served on draught below 8.5 per cent alcohol by volume (ABV) to pay less duty. This relief provides support to pubs and other hospitality venues, as well as helping producers of eligible products.
At Autumn Budget 2024, the Chancellor made DR more generous by cutting draught rates by 1.7%, taking a penny of duty off a typical strength pint.
SPR replaced and extended the previous Small Brewers Relief. SPR supports SMEs and new entrants by permitting smaller producers who make 4,500 hectolitres or less of alcohol per year to pay reduced duty rates on all products below 8.5 per cent ABV.
HMRC plans to evaluate the new rates and structures three years after the changes took effect on 1 August 2023. This will allow time for HMRC to gather a broad range of data. The Government welcomes evidence from industry on the impact of the changes so far.