Beer Duty

EDM number 16 in 1995-96, proposed by Nirj Joseph Deva on 15/11/1995.

That this House notes with concern that, with United Kingdom beer excise duty rates currently around seven times higher than in France, cheap imports of beer continue to flood into Britain at the rate of 1.1 million pints a day and that one-third of this amount is destined for illegal re-sale; believes that the maintenance of a high rate of United Kingdom beer excise duty represents a direct incentive to smugglin and crime, harms British pubs, clubs and off-licences, exports jobs and profit and investment to the Continent, severely distorts competition in the Single Market in favour of Continental producers and retailers and damages an industry which generates 900,000 jobs; believes it is unrealistic to expect other European governments to increase their duty rates significantly in order to solve a British problem; and urges the Chancellor to take serious note of the report of the Parliamentary Beer Club 'Beer Tax Inquiry' and to announce an immediate reduction in beer duty rates in his forthcoming Budget and to set a strategy for phased reductions to the median European level, in order to remove the economic incentive for large scale personal importation and smuggling, to safeguard the traditional British pub and British jobs and to promote fair competition in Europe.

This motion has been signed by a total of 115 MPs.