James Davies
Main Page: James Davies (Conservative - Vale of Clwyd)Department Debates - View all James Davies's debates with the HM Treasury
(7 years, 8 months ago)
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Steve Double (St Austell and Newquay) (Con)
I beg to move,
That this House has considered beer duty.
It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir Roger, and to open this debate on a very important matter. First, I must acknowledge and thank my hon. Friend the Member for Gower (Byron Davies), who secured this debate only to find that it clashed with other, unavoidable parliamentary business. He therefore asked if I would step in for him. His loss is my gain. I am sure he would want me to mention right at the very beginning Gower Brewery, which produces some excellent ales—I remember a very enjoyable evening with my hon. Friend, drinking Gower Gold. It is right to acknowledge that in his absence.
The debate is timely, taking place the day before the Budget. We hope once again for good news from the Chancellor and another cut in the much despised beer duty. There is no doubt that the brewing and pub industry has faced a great many challenges in recent years, which have brought a wind of change blowing through one of the oldest and best loved traditional businesses in the UK. Public houses—or, as we all more affectionately know them, pubs—and breweries have experienced enormous change and upheaval over the past 30 years or so. The vast and often overlooked brewing and hostelry industry is an icon of our nation, cited by tourists the world over as one of the reasons for visiting the UK. Almost 900,000 people work in pubs and the supply chain, from agriculture to brewing, logistics and the licensed trade.
Dr James Davies (Vale of Clwyd) (Con)
I congratulate my hon. Friend on introducing the debate. He rightly points to the vast number of jobs that the industry supports, many of which are in peripheral areas of the country such as our constituencies. Does he agree that action on beer duty, which is up to 10 times that of the duty paid in our neighbouring continental countries, is a vital step?
Steve Double
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. Whereas many other industries are centralised in very specific areas or regions of our country, the pub industry is spread right across it and provides much needed jobs in many of the more rural areas. He is also right that we need to reduce the gap between the duty we pay in this country and the duty paid in many other countries, and I will come on to that later.