Mike Wood MP: speeches

Speeches

• 15 Jul 2025 · Beer Duty · Hansard source

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  The hon. Gentleman is right to say that 10 pubs a week were closing; a number of those, I think, had been artificially sustained through covid by support, but there has been a long-term trend, going back to the turn of the century, of far too many pubs closing. The difference was that the last Government were taking action to try to address that trend. We are waiting to see whether this Government will match that action. British beer is not just an industry but a cultural institution. The evidence of a link between price and alcohol consumption is tenuous at best, but we do know that as prices rise, habits change. When they rise sharply, consumers switch how and what they drink: they go from drinking low-strength beers and ciders to higher-strength wines and spirits. They go from drinking in well-regulated pubs and bars to drinking more at home, without that monitoring and oversight. Publicans tell us that the support that they once felt is now gone. Brewers, especially in rural and coastal areas, are seeing margins tighten and options shrink, and it is drinkers who are paying more for less. We are looking to the Government to reverse the automatic RPI uprating and freeze duty for the remainder of this Parliament; to expand draught relief, to ensure that packaged beer sold in pubs pays a significantly lower duty rate than that sold mainly in supermarkets; to raise the small producer threshold, allowing businesses, including family brewers, to grow without fear of penalty; and to commit to a long-term transparent policy that supports investment and sustainability in the brewing industry. Neither our brewers nor our community pubs can afford to take the hit now by being seen as cash cows for the Chancellor’s need to raise revenue. Real ale deserves real support. Labour’s national insurance rises and slashing of business rate relief has hammered pubs, while its cap on business property relief is a real threat to family brewers. The least that the Government can do is offer some comfort by reducing the pressures caused by high beer duty rates. Consumers, publicans and brewers alike will be watching carefully to see whether the Minister is truly on their side.

• 15 Jul 2025 · Beer Duty · Hansard source

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  Will the hon. Gentleman give way on that point?

• 15 Jul 2025 · Beer Duty · Hansard source

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  The hon. Lady is completely right because of the margins that such brewers operate on. The concern now is that, if reports are correct and the Government are considering beer duty as a revenue raiser to fill the gap in the Chancellor’s budget, so much of the progress will be put at risk. Since the Government took office last July, almost every decision that the Chancellor has taken seems to have gone in the wrong direction when it comes to supporting pubs, hospitality and brewing. Just months into office, the Chancellor confirmed that beer duty would rise in line with the retail prices index from February this year—a sharp and sudden shift, which wiped out so many of the gains. That really needs to be a one-off because the return of automatic uprating every year would be a real betrayal of both the brewing industry and consumers. It would mean higher prices at the local, more pressure on struggling pubs and reduced confidence for independent brewers. That would be not just bad policy but economically incoherent. While costs are high across the supply chain and the Government are piling further costs on to pubs and brewers through wage costs, the Government have decided to add further instability and more tax, rather than consolidating reforms that were already delivering value. Under the last Government the draft relief was introduced to give pubs a much needed lifeline, cutting duty on beer from draft containers over 20 litres and reinforcing the social and economic value of the on trade. I campaigned hard for that. I was delighted when my right hon. Friend the Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), as Chancellor, agreed to a differential duty for draft beer. Then the Leader of the Opposition, as Exchequer Secretary, introduced it as part of the alcohol duty review. I know that the Minister harbours some ambitions; I hope that the subsequent elevation of predecessors who moved to support pubs through duty reform will offer him some inspiration. Reports of a potential review that could scale back the benefits of that draft beer duty rate are deeply concerning. Small producer relief, launched under the last Government and building on the success of Gordon Brown’s small breweries relief, was a significant step forward. I pay tribute to Gordon Brown for that measure, if nothing else: small breweries relief played an important part in encouraging the emergence of a thriving small brewing community, from hobbyists through to established local brewers, in every part of the country. We are seeing the long-term benefits, both economic and cultural.

• 10 Jul 2025 · UK-EU Trading Relationship · Hansard source

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  As the Minister will be aware, under the existing framework, the UK is entitled to take unilateral measures to protect the internal market where there is a diversion of trade. The Federation of Small Businesses Northern Ireland says that a third of businesses that previously traded between Great Britain and Northern Ireland have ceased to do so. We know from his interview yesterday that the Minister does not consider three quarters of deportations being voluntary to represent a majority, but does he consider a third of businesses to be a diversion of trade? If he does not, what would be a diversion of trade?