Clause 11 — Rates of alcoholic liquor duty
Surface Water and Highway Drainage Charges (Exemption) Bill
11:00 pm
John Redwood (Wokingham, Conservative)
I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his expertise in that agricultural sector. I knew that agriculture prices were generally soaring again—because, I suspect, of quantitative easing in Britain and America, which fuels speculative, early moves into commodities, as one might expect from such inflationary actions. My hon. Friend is right to say that it will more than wipe out the possible benefits from energy prices. I was cautious about the extent of those benefits, because they depend on individual brewers' contractual positions—several have long-term contracts, which mean that they do not get the automatic pain or pleasure when market prices move.
As I was saying, the cost of the report is a reasonable cost and one that can be contained by a sensible Government. It would be a good idea to conduct a wider study and get some information about what the impact might be on jobs and prices. Indeed, that would be necessary in order to make an assessment of the impact on employment.
When I tried to tease out the view of the mover of the amendment, Mr. Browne, on the balance of forces that are causing so many pub closures, he said he felt that at the moment price increases could be an important factor. I certainly agree with him that social change is also an important factor. There are people who like to drink drinks other than beer who perhaps associate beer rather more with the pub. There are also people who want to drink their drinks at home or in some other social setting, rather than in the local pub. There are all sorts of social changes under way, which has meant a trend against the pub. However, the hon. Gentleman is right—and many hon. Members agree with him—to say that at this juncture prices could be particularly damaging and that, for a pub or a small brewer, they could be the straw that breaks the camel's back. We know that the rate of pub closures is unacceptably high.
The requirement laid out in amendment 10 is that the report should look into
"the competitiveness of licenses premises,"
although that should perhaps be "licensed premises". I take that to mean that the report would have to consider carefully the relationship between pricing and demand and the impact of the duty on that pricing. If the Government's idea is a permanent escalator, we will need to think through the compound arithmetic and see what impact it might have. The Government also need to do those calculations to see what impact the change could have on the level of duty collected, because there will come a point at which it is self-defeating.
The amendment also invites the Government to comment on the kernel of the argument being put forward this evening, which is the level of employment in the alcohol-related industry. The industry has different components: it has the producers of alcoholic products and all the people involved in marketing, sales and distribution, but it also has those involved in hospitality and leisure who use alcoholic products as part of a wider offering to the public. That is the feature that has led so many hon. Members to be so passionate about the defence of their local pub trade and their local pubs, as important establishments in suburbs, communities and villages.
When she responds to this debate, I hope that the Exchequer Secretary will understand that the House is responding not just to the amendment before us, but to what lies behind it, which is a very big lobby indeed. That lobby is warning the Government that the industry is particularly exposed and that the Government's revenue-raising actions are increasing the agony that businesses are experiencing generally from the impact of the wonky monetary policy, the credit crunch, and the over-extension and then the sharp withdrawal of credit, all of which have characterised the unfortunate performance of the economy in the past three years.
I hope that the Minister will remember to explain to the House a little more how her clause 11 operates, because that will stand part of the Bill if the amendment is not passed. I hope that she agrees that the increases in the Bill are very large for an economy that, we are told, should be operating at zero inflation. There are also some big steps up in the duty on wine, which do not make a lot of sense to quite a lot of people trying to wrestle with what the Government are seeking to do.