The government is using public health arguments as a “thin veneer to maintain market distortions” Miles Beale, chief executive of the WSTA, has said in a rebuttal of the claims made by Gareth Davies at the Westminster Hall debate earlier this month.
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The government dashed hopes of a cut to alcohol duty following the announcement of the Spring Budget today (6 March) by chancellor Jeremy Hunt.
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The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) along with over 100 UK wine and spirit producers, retailers and hospitality businesses have called on the government to cut duty in a ‘last-ditch plea’ ahead of the Budget announcement on 6 March.
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A group of award-winning small distillers have penned an open letter to Jeremy Hunt calling for a cut to alcohol duty in the Spring Budget.
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Bordeaux winemaker and British expat Gavin Quinney says UK duty is ‘even crazier’ than we first thought.
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Harpers’ latest survey canvassed the UK’s independent retailers to ask which cost pressures are affecting them most and to what extent. Now, the results are in – and we can the report that price rises have become a necessary evil for the majority of businesses.
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Scotch whisky has managed to maintain its momentum on the export market following a record-breaking year in 2022, with the first six months of 2023 bringing home over £2.5bn.
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Harpers wants to hear from indie retailers as to how the 1 August duty rises – and associated costs – are impacting business.
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Independent merchants, long considered the backbone of the quality drinks trade in the UK, were woefully underrepresented among those consulted by government over the duty changes now hitting businesses.
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Economic depression tends to lead consumers to splash out on little luxuries. This is the idea behind the ‘lipstick effect’, coined by Estée Lauder’s Leonard Lauder to describe the rocketing rise of lipsticks in 2008, post the 9/11 attacks in New York and while global markets teetered on the brink of financial meltdown. By extension – and with the cost of living and wage stagnation pushing prices higher – alcohol still seems to fall within a comparatively ‘affordable luxury’ bracket.
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So, the deadline has come and gone – and despite an avalanche of criticism, including a letter sent by Hennings Wine owner Matt Hennings to his local MP in June, begging the government to wake up and smell the bonfire, the trade is now facing increases to the tune of 20% or 44p per 75cl bottle.
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With swingeing duty rises about to hit the trade, Hallgarten & Novum Wines’ MD Andrew Bewes looks beyond the headline cost and turns his attention to the challenges operators face when implementing the increase at ground level.
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Confirmation that the UK has signed up to the Asia-Pacific trade pact will open new markets down the line for some in the drinks trade, but will offer little sustenance in the short term.
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Industry heads are warning that wine drinkers could face rocketing prices if the chancellor goes ahead with a double-pronged tax hike, likely to be announced at tomorrow’s Spring Budget.
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WineGB has criticised the set up of the government’s duty relief scheme which effectively denies small wine producers support.
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The WSTA struck a note somewhere between optimism and realism at the opening briefing of this year’s London Wine Fair, calling for “resilience and resistance” in order to manifest a more fully formed recovery of the wine and spirit trade post-Covid.
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The Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) has convened a meeting of MPs and Lords to hear first-hand from British businesses how the ‘punishing’ proposals for duty reform from three to 27 tax bands will negatively impact the drinks industry and consumers.
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James Bayley dives into ‘quintuple shock’ looming on the horizon in April, as businesses call for more ongoing support to boost recovery.
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With the wine trade potentially facing a damaging new duty regime, Andrew Catchpole convened a panel at Wine Paris to ask: “Will the proposed new excise duties in the UK make wine unaffordable?”
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The Wine and Spirit APPG has published its SME Inquiry Report on the government’s ‘illogical and unfair’ reform to alcohol duty.
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