Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what fiscal steps he is taking to support the Scotch whisky industry in the UK market.

The government published its assessment of the impacts of the alcohol duty changes in the Tax Information and Impact Note, which can be found online at:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-duty-rate-changes/alcohol-duty-rate-changes

The government ended the spirits duty escalator in 2014 with a duty freeze, followed by a cut in 2015 and a further freeze in 2016. The previous action taken means that the tax on a bottle of Scotch Whisky is now 90p lower than it would otherwise have been since ending the spirits duty escalator in 2014.