Chancellor John Healey has announced £10m in alcohol duty relief for around 2,000 small British brewers and cider makers as part of today's Autumn Budget.
Delivering his Budget in the House of Commons, Mr Healey said the relief is designed to support small producers facing rising costs within the industry.
Support for small brewers and cider makers
Mr Healey said the £10m relief would reduce the tax burden for around 2,000 small brewers and cider makers across the country. The move comes after many businesses and trade bodies had expressed hope prior to the Budget that there would instead be an entire freeze on alcohol duty, which is calculated based on the type and strength of drinks.
He said: "For those who feel like celebrating tax cuts for our high streets - I'm providing a £10m alcohol duty relief for around 2000 small British brewers and cider makers."
Other Budget measures
No announcements were made regarding any changes to the wider alcohol duty system. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates that alcohol duty revenue was £12.5 billion in 2024/25, and that it will rise further to £14.1 billion in 2030/31.
The Budget also included increases on tax for banks and rental incomes, a 3.9pc increase to the National Minimum Wage and the National Living Wage, tariffs on more than 100 supermarket products suspended to keep prices down during the cost of living crisis, the introduction of a pension tax allowance, and a £100 "energy payment" that will be paid to 20m households this winter.
Support for hospitality and local spending
For the hospitality sector, Mr Healey offered support through an increase in the threshold for small business rates relief for retail hospitality and leisure businesses, supported through raised taxes on gambling. It means that some 70,000 businesses will no longer need to pay rates as a result.
The chancellor also said that all business rates revenues would stay with local authorities so that the money raised could then be 'spent locally'.
Mr Healey had promised his first Budget, which is also the first under Andy Burnham's leadership of the country, was aimed at supporting the "working people of Britain" as well as "business big and small". Also announced was the pledge of a further £430m to support rough sleeping and the scrapping of a new £12,000 savings rule which will reverse a planned change to the £20,000 ISA limit.
He concluded his Budget speech after saying he will set out the Government's plan to spend 3.5% of GDP on defence by 2035 at the spending review next year.
