Commons Chamber
Autumn Statement Resolutions - Mon 27 Nov 2023
Department for Work and Pensions

Mentions:
1: Eleanor Laing (Con - Epping Forest) Travellers' Allowances Order 1994 (which provides in certain circumstances for a simplified calculation of excise - Speech Link
2: Nigel Huddleston (Con - Mid Worcestershire) Travellers' Allowances Order 1994 (which provides in certain circumstances for a simplified calculation of excise - Speech Link
3: Liz Kendall (Lab - Leicester West) Jobcentres will also have new duties to work in partnership with the local NHS, employers and others. - Speech Link
4: Richard Thomson (SNP - Gordon) The Scotch whisky industry supports 10,000 jobs in Scotland and 42,000 jobs across the whole of the UK - Speech Link
5: Nigel Huddleston (Con - Mid Worcestershire) Member for Gordon also mentioned the Scotch whisky industry. - Speech Link

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Departmental Publication (Transparency)
Department for Energy Security & Net Zero

Oct. 26 2023

Source Page: Committee on Climate Change 2023 progress report: government response
Document: Responding to the Climate Change Committee’s (CCC) 2023 Annual Progress Report to Parliament (PDF)

Found: Extensive changes would be required to the Coal Authority’s duties to establish an enforcement regime

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Written Question

Whisky: Excise Duties

Monday 23rd October 2023

Asked by: Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrat - Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross)

Question to the Department for Business and Trade:

To ask the Secretary of State for Business and Trade, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of increases in domestic excise duty on Scotch whisky on discussions to reduce tariffs and excise duty on that whisky in international markets.

Answered by Nigel Huddleston - Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)

This Government is supporting Scotch Whisky. We have provided a series of cuts and freezes to alcohol duties in the past decade. The most recent alcohol duty freeze from Autumn Budget 2021, including the extension to 1 August 2023, represented a total tax cut of £2.7 billion over the next four years.

The Government is seeking improvement in market access, through negotiating ambitious Free Trade Agreements, including our recent accession to the CPTPP, and with other trade partners. We are also seeking to reduce non-tariff barriers through conversations with various other partners globally.

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Written Question

Whisky: Excise Duties

Monday 18th September 2023

Asked by: Alistair Carmichael (Liberal Democrat - Orkney and Shetland)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the increase in alcohol duty on (a) economic growth and (b) job creation within the Scotch Whisky industry.

Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The potential impacts of the recent changes to alcohol duty rates were published at Spring Budget in HMRC’s Tax Information and Impact Note and can be found online: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-alcohol-duty-rates/alcohol-duty-rate-changes#summary-of-impacts.

This Government is supporting Scotch Whisky. We have provided a series of cuts and freezes to alcohol duties in the past decade. Before Spring Budget 2023, the spirits industry has benefitted from cuts or freezes to spirits duty at eight out of the last nine fiscal events, since the end of the duty escalator for spirits in 2013. The most recent alcohol duty freeze from Autumn Budget 2021, including the extension to 1 August 2023, represented a total tax cut of £2.7 billion over the next four years.

We have also undertaken the biggest reform of alcohol duties in 140 years and moved all alcohol products to being taxed based on their strength, narrowing the gap between spirits and still wine.

Further, we have removed punitive tariffs on Scotch Whisky imposed on the US market and are committed to protecting the interests of Scotch Whisky in trading agreements, ensuring that they face lower tariffs for export, and that the unique characteristics and global reputation of Scotch is protected, as demonstrated recently in our free trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand, and the CPTPP.

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Written Question

Whisky: Excise Duties

Monday 11th September 2023

Asked by: Ian Murray (Labour - Edinburgh South)

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer ,what assessment he has made of the potential impact of the rise in alcohol duty on the (a) growth and (b) job creation prospects of the Scotch whisky industry.

Answered by Gareth Davies - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)

The potential impacts of the recent changes to alcohol duty rates were published at Spring Budget in HMRC’s Tax Information and Impact Note and can be found online (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-alcohol-duty-rates/alcohol-duty-rate-changes#summary-of-impacts).

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Select Committee

Twentieth Report - Documents considered by the Committee on 21 June 2023

Report Jun. 27 2023

Committee: European Scrutiny Committee

Found: Association says that on average, 53% of the retail price of a bottle of whisky in the UK is made up

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Public Bill Committees
Finance (No. 2) Bill (Second sitting)
Committee stage: 2nd sitting - Tue 16 May 2023
HM Treasury

Mentions:
1: Angela Eagle (LAB - Wallasey) I am thinking of spirits, such as whisky, which are much higher in alcohol.If we look at the reaction - Speech Link
2: Kirsty Blackman (SNP - Aberdeen North) In particular, we discussed the concerns raised by the Scottish whisky industry. - Speech Link
3: None I am thinking of Scottish whisky; I am aware that other spirits and alcohols are generally an awful lot - Speech Link
4: Gareth Davies (CON - Grantham and Stamford) That is true of spirits; Scotch whisky is required to be over a certain level of alcohol, but cocktails - Speech Link

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