Clause 2 - Rates of duty on cider
Finance Bill
12:00 pm
Mr Christopher Chope (Christchurch, Conservative)
The argument that the hon. Gentleman deploys is extraordinary. He says that a product, even though it has no greater alcohol content, should be penalised because it is more popular; perhaps we should drive people towards products with greater alcohol content, such as cider. I am happy to defend the traditional British cider industry, and I hope that even more of the apples used in cider will be grown in the United Kingdom instead of elsewhere. The Financial Secretary quoted the statistic that half the UK apple production goes into the cider produced in this country. A heck of a lot of the apples from France and overseas also goes into our cider production, but that is a separate issue.
If we want to link the issue of binge drinking with spirit coolers, we must be logical. The debate will probably demonstrate that the fact that spirit coolers are popular among people is no basis for penalising them; penalising cider producers because many people find that cider provides the maximum amount of alcohol for the minimum duty would not be sensible either.