About the campaign

• • The ‘Drop the Duty!’ campaign is very grateful to everyone who emailed their MP and, with their help, persuaded the Chancellor to abolish the Alcohol Duty Escalator and to freeze the duty on spirits in his 2014 Budget.

    Here are just a few reasons why it is so important he builds on welcome progress and makes a modest 2% cut in duty across all alcohol products in his 2015 Budget, to support a great British success story.

  • A modest

    2%

    cut across all products would enable the industry to increase its contribution to GDP, to job creation and to the Exchequer.

    1

  • Since 2008

    • 

      wine taxation has increased by

      54 %

    • 

      and spirits by

      44 %

    2

  • Under the current Government, tax on wine has increased by

    28 %

    and on spirits by

    25 %
    3

  • Nearly

    80%

    tax

    UK consumers currently pay nearly 80% of an average priced bottle of spirits and nearly 60% of an average priced bottle of wine in

    TAX.

    Nearly

    60%

    tax

    4

  • The alcohol industry pays £17 billion in tax. This equates to £329 per person, per year.

    £17
    billion

    £329
    5

  • Wine and spirits account for: 

    

    42 %

    of the value of products sold in pubs, bars and restaurants 

    And are worth

    £10 billion

    to these establishments

    6

• • A great British success story…

    The UK’s wine and spirit industry is a great British success story

  • The wine and spirit industry is worth

    £22 billion

    annually to the British economy

    
    
    

  • The UK
    alcohol industry supports nearly 2 million jobs

    518,000 people

    are directly employed in wine and
    spirits

    

    1.1 million UK jobs

    are supported in the wider economy, from cereal growers to packaging firms

  • • There are

      470

      commercial vineyards
      and 135 wineries in the
      UK. They produced
      4,500,000 bottles of
      wine in 2013.

    • There are

      204

      working distilleries in
      the UK, with the equivalent
      of over one billion
      bottles of Scotch Whisky
      shipped abroad
      last year

    • Scotch Whisky
      accounts for nearly

      25 %

      of all UK food and drink
      exports. High tax rates
      in the UK encourage
      high tax rates
      overseas

    • 93%

      of the value and
      volume of gin sold in
      the UK is domestically
      produced

  • Duty on spirits was last cut in 1996 and on wine in 1984. Duty on spirits has only been cut three times in a century

  • 26

    million people regularly drink wine in pubs, bars and other licensed premises in the UK

    204,684

    licensed premises in the UK