Alcohol duty rise a ‘hammer blow’ to Scottish whisky, industry warns

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of breaking his committedness to “back Scotch producers to the hilt”, aft the Chancellor announced different summation to intoxicant duty.

Delivering her archetypal Budget connected Wednesday, Rachel Reeves said taxation connected non-draught alcoholic drinks volition summation by the higher RPI complaint of inflation.

Despite the rise, it was announced that work connected draught products volition beryllium chopped by 1.7%, thing whisky and different spirits are excluded from.

The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) said the taxation volition beryllium a “hammer blow” to the industry.

It had called for the Chancellor to reverse the 10.1% work summation announced past August by the Conservative government.

“Instead, the harm done to the manufacture and to Government gross has been compounded by further expanding the taxation load connected the sector, which is already the highest successful the G7,” it said.

The manufacture assemblage said the erstwhile summation resulted successful whisky gross falling by hundreds of millions of pounds, which yet led to a little intake by HMRC.

Mark Kent, main enforcement of the SWA, said: “This work summation connected Scotch whisky is simply a hammer blow, runs antagonistic to the Prime Minister’s committedness to ‘back Scotch producers to the hilt’, and increases the taxation favoritism of Scotland’s nationalist drink.

“On the backmost of the 10.1% work summation past year, which led to a simplification successful gross for HM Treasury, this taxation hike serves nary economical purpose.

“It volition harm the Scotch whisky industry, the Scottish economy, and undermines Labour’s committedness to beforehand ‘Brand Scotland’.”

Mr Kent deed retired astatine the antithetic rates of taxation betwixt drought and non-drought intoxicant which accrued successful Ms Reeves’s Budget.

He said: “She has besides accrued the taxation favoritism of spirits successful the Treasury’s warped work system, and with 70% of UK spirits produced successful Scotland, that volition bash further harm to a cardinal Scottish sector.

“The disastrous 10.1% work hike past twelvemonth has present been compounded.

“This further taxation emergence means the lessons person not been learned, and the Chancellor has chosen continuity with her predecessor, not change.

“We impulse each MPs who enactment Scotch whisky to ballot against this work hike and taxation favoritism of Scotland’s nationalist drink.”