Wednesday April 22, 02:10 PM
Tax on alcohol and cigarettes rise in UK Budget
LONDON, April 22 (Reuters) - British finance minister Alistair Darling raised duty on alcohol and tobacco on Wednesday, prompting the pub industry to say he had signed the death warrant for thousands of bars.
'Alcohol duties will go up by 2 percent from midnight tonight and there will be an increase in tobacco duty of two percent from 6pm this evening,' Darling said delivering his second budget.
The Tobacco Manufacturers' Association said the increase would add seven pence to the average price of a packet of 20 cigarettes which currently retail at 5.78 pounds.
The British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) attacked the measures which will add about six pence to a pint of beer, saying they would lead to many more closures.
Pubs are closing at a rate of six across every day across Britain, the industry says.
'Today's Budget signs the death warrant for thousands of Britain's pubs and for tens of thousands of British jobs,' the BBPA said.
'In imposing these additional beer taxes, the government has wilfully ignored the views of the public, landlords, consumer groups, industry representatives and MPs from all parties who have been calling for action to save the British pub,' it said.
Citing figures from forecasters Oxford Economics, BBPA says 20,000 jobs have been gone across the sector in the last year, with a further 59,000 projected to be lost across the industry in the next five years.
(Reporting by Stefano Ambrogi and Matt Scuffham; Editing by Mike Peacock) Keywords: BRITAIN BUDGET/ALCOHOL
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