Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties

(asked on 10th November 2023) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, with reference to the Answer of 25 October 2023 to Question 203613 on Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of bringing forward its formal evaluation of alcohol duty increases in the context of consumer price inflation for alcohol.


Answered by
Gareth Davies Portrait
Gareth Davies
Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
This question was answered on 16th November 2023

The Government has undertaken the biggest reform of alcohol duties for over 140 years and has introduced a new, simplified alcohol duty system based on the common-sense principle of taxing alcohol by strength.

The Government is closely monitoring the impact of the reforms and will evaluate the impact of the new rates and structures three years after the changes took effect on 1 August 2023.

The Government thinks it is right to allow time to understand the impacts on the alcohol market and for HMRC to gather useful and accurate data with which to evaluate. However, the Government engages regularly with stakeholders to understand market conditions and keeps all taxes under review.

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