Autumn Statement

CAMRA members across the country have been campaigning hard to help keep local pubs open and limit further rises in the price of a pint. Since 2013, the government’s Beer Duty Escalator has been scrapped which has resulted in three successive cuts in beer duty and a further freeze on beer duty earlier this year. However, business rates are continuing to be a burden for our pubs and beer duty is still as much as 52p on a pint. Beer and pubs support over 900,000 jobs in the United Kingdom, and our pubs also act as community facilities for many areas in our country.

More action is needed to ensure that pubs and our brewing industry continues to thrive and deliver for consumers. A further freeze on beer duty with a view to a further cut in the 2017 budget would help keep the price of a pint down and address the high levels of Beer Duty paid by UK consumers. And an introduction of a new class of business rate relief for pubs would help to recognise the role that pubs play in local communities and help balance the level of rates paid by pubs and other business sectors. In preparation for Chancellor Philip Hammond’s first Autumn Statement in November, CAMRA members across the country have written to their MP, urging them to send a strong message to the Chancellor to back our pubs and to show support for our brewing industry.