BEER DUTY

Early day motion 1047, tabled 20 March 2002 by Lord Jones of Cheltenham (Liberal Democrat). Signed by 76 members.

That this House notes the commitment of the Chancellor to progressive beer duty; notes that European legislation allows for a lower rate of duty to be applied to independent breweries producing up to 200,000 hl of beer; calls on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to introduce a lower rate of duty for all small independent breweries with a linear taper of the duty rate up to 200,000 hl to minimise anti-competitive distortion in the market; and further notes that this does nothing to remove the competitive disadvantage suffered by British brewers regardless of size as a result of the high rates of beer duty applied in the United Kingdom as compared with neighbouring member states.

Signatures by party: Labour 38, Liberal Democrat 22, Conservative 8, Labour/Co-operative 4, Plaid Cymru 2, Scottish National Party 1, UUP 1.