Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact on small and medium-sized wine traders of the introduction of a tax-by-strength alcohol excise duty regime within one year.

In August 2023 the Government introduced reforms to alcohol duty so that products are taxed in proportion to their alcoholic strength, not volume.

To help the wine industry adapt to the new duty system, the temporary duty easement was introduced as a transitional measure, which was intended to allow time for wine producers to adapt to calculating duty based on alcohol by volume.

Whilst the new system of wine labelling allows product labelling to 0.1 per cent ABV, this is optional, and wine can still be labelled to the nearest 0.5 per cent ABV.

By the planned end-date of 31 January 2025, the wine industry will have had over two years to adapt to the new strength-based system.