(Except clauses 4, 19, 23, 26 to 29, 87 to 92, 131 and 134 and schedules 1, 5 and 38) - Clause 3 - Duty on beverages made with spirits to be at spirits rate

Part of Finance Bill – in a Public Bill Committee at 5:00 pm on 14 May 2002.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Mr Paul Boateng Mr Paul Boateng Financial Secretary, HM Treasury, The Financial Secretary to the Treasury 5:00, 14 May 2002

The approach of the right hon. Gentleman, who takes a keen interest in those matters, is intriguing. He attempts to suggest that whether a particular drink could bear an increase in taxation should not be taken into account, that it is unfair to do that, or that if we do that for one drink—one that is, after all, in receipt of a concessionary regime—it opens up opportunities to tax others still further. That is simply not the case. I refer him to paragraph 5.88 in the Red Book, to which I referred earlier, which says that our aim is

''a fairer balance in the burden of taxation falling on different alcoholic drinks and different types of drink-producers.''

That is what we have done here. There is nothing underhand or suspicious about it. The right hon. Gentleman cannot jump from the fact that we have taken this particular action on spirit-based coolers to say that, next in line, we have our eyes on beer or spirits.

I had an exchange with the hon. Member for Buckingham on our respective records on beer. He has promised to write to me about that, and I look forward to it, but I should like to share that discussion with a wider audience. I do not think that, when one examines how the Labour Government have related to the spirits and beer industries, one can truly suggest that we have imposed an unfair burden on them or been anything other than understanding of and sympathetic to the issues and concerns that affect them.

Several hon. Members rose—