Tax on wines and spirits increases from today, but some good news if you’re going to the pub for a pint

Published

2 years ago

August 1, 2023

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Wine and gin drinkers will have to shell out more from today as alcohol taxes rise.

The shake-up aims to encourage drinkers to cut back by taxing all alcohol based on its strength, rather than the previous categories of wine, beer, spirits and ciders.

The increase will see duty rise by 44p on a bottle of wine – something announced a few months ago in the budget.

When combined with VAT, the real increase per bottle will be 53p, the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) said.

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Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said in March that a freeze on alcohol duty would end on 1 August and increase in line with the Retail Price Index measure of inflation, which was 10.7% last month.

All types of tipple are therefore affected.

Duty on an 18% cream sherry will go up from £2.98 to £3.85.

Combined with VAT, it adds up to an increase of more than £1 a bottle, while a bottle of port will go up by more than £1.50.

The total tax on a bottle of gin or vodka will rise by about 90p.

For beer drinkers, Mr Hunt is cutting the duty on draught pints across the UK by 11p.

It is seen as a measure designed to boost pubs, many of which have been closing.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hailed the move as beneficial to “thousands of businesses across the country”.

However, the British Beer and Pub Association said brewers will pay 10.1% more tax on bottles and cans of beer from Tuesday.

It means duty will make up about 30% of the cost of a 500ml bottle.

Scotch Whisky Association director of strategy Graeme Littlejohn described the 10.1% duty increase as a “hammer blow for distillers and consumers”.

He warned: “Pubs and other on-trade businesses are about far more than beer and cider.”

The Treasury has said that more than 38,000 UK pubs will benefit from tax relief that effectively freezes or cuts the alcohol duty on beer poured from tap from Tuesday.

Mr Hunt said: “British pubs are the beating heart of our communities and as they face rising costs, we’re doing all we can to help them out. Through our Brexit Pubs Guarantee, we’re protecting the price of a pint.

“The changes we’re making to the way we tax alcohol catapults us into the 21st century, reflecting the popularity of low alcohol drinks and boosting growth in the sector by supporting small producers financially.”

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

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Rachel Reeves hints at tax rises in autumn budget after welfare bill U-turn

Rachel Reeves has hinted that taxes are likely to be raised this autumn after a major U-turn on the government’s controversial welfare bill.

Sir Keir Starmer’s Universal Credit and Personal Independent Payment Bill passed through the House of Commons on Tuesday after multiple concessions and threats of a major rebellion.

MPs ended up voting for only one part of the plan: a cut to universal credit (UC) sickness benefits for new claimants from £97 a week to £50 from 2026/7.

Initially aimed at saving £5.5bn, it now leaves the government with an estimated £5.5bn black hole – close to breaching Ms Reeves’s fiscal rules set out last year.

In an interview with The Guardian, the chancellor did not rule out tax rises later in the year, saying there were “costs” to watering down the welfare bill.

“I’m not going to [rule out tax rises], because it would be irresponsible for a chancellor to do that,” Ms Reeves told the outlet.

“We took the decisions last year to draw a line under unfunded commitments and economic mismanagement.

“So we’ll never have to do something like that again. But there are costs to what happened.”

Meanwhile, The Times reported that, ahead of the Commons vote on the welfare bill, Ms Reeves told cabinet ministers the decision to offer concessions would mean taxes would have to be raised.

The outlet reported that the chancellor said the tax rises would be smaller than those announced in the 2024 budget, but that she is expected to have to raise tens of billions more.

It comes after Ms Reeves said she was “totally” up to continuing as chancellor after appearing tearful at Prime Minister’s Questions.

Criticising Sir Keir for the U-turns on benefit reform during PMQs, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the chancellor looked “absolutely miserable”, and questioned whether she would remain in post until the next election.

Sir Keir did not explicitly say that she would, and Ms Badenoch interjected to say: “How awful for the chancellor that he couldn’t confirm that she would stay in place.”

In her first comments after the incident, Ms Reeves said she was having a “tough day” before adding: “People saw I was upset, but that was yesterday.

“Today’s a new day and I’m just cracking on with the job.”

Sir Keir also told Sky News’ political editor Beth Rigby on Thursday that he “didn’t appreciate” that Ms Reeves was crying in the Commons.

“In PMQs, it is bang, bang, bang,” he said. “That’s what it was yesterday.

“And therefore, I was probably the last to appreciate anything else going on in the chamber, and that’s just a straightforward human explanation, common sense explanation.”