Beer drinkers to swallow 1p rise

Beer drinkers are to see the price of their favourite pint rise by a penny on Sunday night as part of the 2007 Budget.

Cider, which has soared in popularity thanks to high-profile marketing campaigns, goes up by a penny a litre while wine rises 5p a bottle and sparkling wine 7p a bottle.

But, for the tenth Budget in a row, Chancellor Gordon Brown has frozen duty on spirits.

A packet of 20 cigarettes goes up by 11p later today.

Mr Brown said: "While I will go ahead from 6pm tonight with the annual inflation rise on a packet of 20 cigarettes, of 11p, I want us to do more to support the health advice campaign, initiated by the Health Secretary, with a new incentive to encourage people wishing to give up smoking.

"For one year from July 1 for nicotine replacement and other products that help smokers to quit, I am cutting VAT to the lowest I can, from 17.5 per cent to 5 per cent."

British Beer and Pub Association communications director Mark Hastings said the Chancellor had penalised beer and favoured stronger alcoholic drinks.

"This is a slap in the face for one of Britain's world-beating businesses,"he said.

"Gordon Brown has chosen to turn his back on a brewing sector facing intense pressure from rapid cost inflation and the forthcoming smoking ban."

The Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) said the 1p per pint increase in beer duty would hit Britain's pubs hard.

Camra chief executive Mike Benner said: "This is bad news for the millions of people who enjoy British pubs but will now face a higher cost to visit them.

"At a time when 56 pubs a month are closing, the smoking ban is imminent and supermarkets are selling beer at ridiculously low prices, British pubs needed a lifeline from their Government and that has been denied them."

But Alcohol Concern campaigns officer Frank Soodeen said the alcohol duty increases did not go far enough.

"We actually know that alcohol is 54 per cent more affordable than it was in 1980 and clearly what this shows is that the Treasury is unwilling to deal with some of the difficult questions we face around how to cut down the level of alcohol harm in this country," he said.

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.