Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask Mr Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent assessment he has made of the price elasticity of spirits and the appropriate rate of duty on them.
The price elasticity of demand for spirits used by the Government is available online on HMRC’s website.
These figures are used to create forecasts and costings, which are compared with actual duty receipts to check that the published elasticities remain reasonable. All costings are subject to OBR scrutiny.