Beer tax escalator to be debated and voted on by MPs on 1 November
The decision was taken by the Backbench Business Committee yesterday after an e-petition calling for the policy to be scrapped reached 100,000 signatures last month.
The three hour debate will allow MPs to debate the impact of the escalator on economic growth, jobs and ultimately the effect it has on UK pubs.
It will conclude with a voteable motion which, if passed, will call on the Treasury to launch a full review of the policy for the first time with a report expected to be published ahead of the next Budget.
Wrong policy
"I welcome this decision," Brigid Simmonds, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) chief executive, said after hearing the news.
"Many MPs are indeed listening to the public on this issue. This is about consumers - pub goers, beer drinkers and licensees who hate the tax which hits everyone hard."
Just hours before the debate was announced the BBPA revealed beer sales had plummeted in the third quarter of the year with a drop in consumption of 117 million pints despite a busy summer of sport.
The organisation argues the escalator is unfair given the level of tax paid in other European nations and says it has cost the average pub around £66k a year.
In the period since it was introduced in May 2008, beer duty has increased by 42 per cent and beer sales have fallen by 15 per cent. 6,000 pubs closed their doors in the same period.
"The task now is to persuade the Government that excessive tax hikes are the wrong policy, hurting jobs and pubs, when instead we could be delivering growth and employment," Simmonds added.
Debate
The decision to grant a debate was made after a meeting yesterday afternoon where the application was supported with arguments from MP groups including the All-Party Parliamentary Beer Group and the All-Party Parliamentary Save the Pub Group.
The chairman of the latter, Greg Mulholland MP, joined brewing companies, Camra and other publicans in welcoming the news on Twitter and reiterated his commitment to ending the policy and persuading pubcos against using duty rises to raise beer prices.
