Question to the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, what steps he has taken to increase the exports of Scotch Whisky, including to the US and India.

Scotch whisky is one of the UK’s largest drink export sectors, and the Government is working to remove market access barriers and support exporters. Through the UK-India Free Trade Agreement, tariffs on Scotch whisky were reduced from 150% to 75% when the agreement entered into force on 15 July and fall to 40% over the next 10 years. On 24 July, the US removed tariffs on UK-produced whisky following successful negotiations by the UK Government. This supports a sector that exports around £1billion of whisky to the US each year.