Thursday April 3, 03:24 PM
UK govt minister says licensing industry 'right to be upset' over duty rises
LONDON (Thomson Financial) - British Licensing Minister Gerry Sutcliffe said the licensing industry was 'right' to be upset at Chancellor Alistair Darling's budget decision to lift alcohol duty by the rate of inflation plus 2 percent
for the next four years.
In an interview with pub trade newspaper the Morning Advertiser, Sutcliffe told the industry it had to 'get its act together' to lobby against the changes in the same way that road hauliers managed to get fuel levy increases deferred.
'I'm not saying that will happen, but that's where the trade needs to focus the basis of its argument,' he said.
'I think the industry's right to be upset. We, and I speak as a champion of the pub trade, want the Chancellor to change his mind.
'The next opportunity will be the pre-Budget report in November (Frankfurt: A0S9N7 - news) . But the industry has seriously got to get its act together in working out what its priorities are.'
Prime Minister Gordon Brown is currently in Romania for a NATO summit, but his spokesman, Michael Ellam told reporters from Bucharest that neither he or Brown had seen Sutcliffe's comments.
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