Asked by: Roz Savage (Liberal Democrat - South Cotswolds)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what comparative assessment she has made of the potential impact of alcohol duty policy on on-trade venues such as pubs, with off-trade alcohol sales in supermarkets.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The importance of the 'on-trade' is recognised in the alcohol duty system via Draught Relief, which ensures eligible products served on draught pay less duty than their packaged equivalents. The Chancellor significantly increased the generosity of this relief at Autumn Budget 2024, taking a penny of duty off a typical strength pint and reducing overall duty receipts by £85m. Draught beer and cider now pay 13.9% less in tax than their packaged equivalents – a 50% increase on the draught discount under the previous government (9.2%).
At Autumn Budget 2025, the Chancellor confirmed that alcohol duty would be uprated on 1 February 2026 to maintain its real-terms value. The government does not expect this to have any significant impact on competition between the on- and off-trades.
An assessment of the impacts of the inflation-linked uprating at the most recent Budget is published within the Tax Impact and Information Note (TIIN) here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-duty-rates-change/alcohol-duty-uprating#summary-of-impacts.
Asked by: James Cleverly (Conservative - Braintree)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the answer of 4 December 2025, to Question 95882, on Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties, for what reason CPI is used to calculate business rates.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The national business rates multipliers uprate by the previous September’s CPI figure every April.
Business rates make up a quarter of Local Authority core spending power and support critical local services, including child and adult social care. Indexing the business rates multipliers in between revaluations helps to maintain the real-terms value of this revenue to fund these services.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of alcohol duty levels on the financial sustainability of community pubs.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Budget 2025 the Chancellor announced that alcohol duty would be kept constant in real terms by uprating it in line with by Retail Price Index (RPI) on 1 February 2026. This decision balances the important contribution of alcohol producers and the hospitality sector to the UK’s culture and economy, with the duty’s role in reducing alcohol harm.
An assessment of the impacts of this Budget decision is published within the Tax Impact and Information Note (TIIN) here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-duty-rates-change/alcohol-duty-uprating#summary-of-impacts
This Government is proud to have been able to expand the generosity of Draught Relief, which enables products served on draught below 8.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) to pay less duty. The Chancellor’s draught rate cut at Autumn Budget 2024 applied to approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This took a penny of duty off a typical strength pint at a cost to the Exchequer of over £85m a year, providing vital support to pubs and other venues, and helping other producers that supply eligible products.
Asked by: Rupert Lowe (Independent - Great Yarmouth)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether she has considered freezing or reforming alcohol duty on draught products sold in pubs.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
At Budget 2025 the Chancellor announced that alcohol duty would be kept constant in real terms by uprating it in line with by Retail Price Index (RPI) on 1 February 2026. This decision balances the important contribution of alcohol producers and the hospitality sector to the UK’s culture and economy, with the duty’s role in reducing alcohol harm.
An assessment of the impacts of this Budget decision is published within the Tax Impact and Information Note (TIIN) here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/alcohol-duty-rates-change/alcohol-duty-uprating#summary-of-impacts
This Government is proud to have been able to expand the generosity of Draught Relief, which enables products served on draught below 8.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) to pay less duty. The Chancellor’s draught rate cut at Autumn Budget 2024 applied to approximately 60% of the alcoholic drinks sold in pubs. This took a penny of duty off a typical strength pint at a cost to the Exchequer of over £85m a year, providing vital support to pubs and other venues, and helping other producers that supply eligible products.
Asked by: Tim Farron (Liberal Democrat - Westmorland and Lonsdale)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment she has made of the impact of inflation-linked duty increases on the on-trade in each of the last three years.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Alcohol duty is paid by producers, and is therefore not typically paid directly by pubs. Further, according to estimates derived from sales data collected on behalf of the Office for National Statistics, only around 15% of spirits are consumed on-trade.
At Autumn Budget 2025 the Chancellor confirmed that alcohol duty will be uprated on 1 February 2026 to maintain its current real-terms value.
An assessment of the impacts of decisions taken by the Chancellor at each Budget is published within the relevant Tax Impact and Information Note (TIIN). The TIIN for the inflation-linked uprating announced at the most recent Budget is available here:
There is significant variation in alcohol taxation policy amongst European countries. The World Health Organization recently published a comparison of alcohol taxes across the WHO European Region, which can be found here: https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/9789289061940.
HMRC does not hold data on alcohol duty paid on alcohol sold in pubs.
Asked by: David Simmonds (Conservative - Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, further to the Autumn Budget 2025, for what reason alcohol duty is being uprated by RPI rather than CPI inflation.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
The Office for National Statistics, regulated by the UK Statistics Authority, produces a range of inflation statistics. The most widely used estimates of inflation, both by Government and the private sector, are the Consumer Prices Index and the Retail Prices Index (RPI).
Alcohol duty, like many other taxes expressed in cash terms, is indexed to RPI.
On the wider considerations about the extent to which RPI is embedded in the UK's economic and legal system, I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given on 13 November 2025 to PQ UIN 88538.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment her Department has made of the potential impact of alcohol duty increases on 1 February 2025 on revenue from alcohol duty receipts.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Alcohol duty receipts for the period March 2025 to October 2025, following the February 2025 rate increase, totalled £7.8 billion, down 4.5% from the same period in 2024 when receipts totalled £8.1 billion. This is driven by an underlying fall in alcohol consumption. Likely factors causing this decline, as identified in the Office for Budget Responsibility's Economic and Fiscal Outlook report published in November 2025, are a growing trend of alcohol moderation and a response to higher prices, as well as a potential impact from demographic changes. You can find the report here: https://obr.uk/economic-and-fiscal-outlooks/
New forecasts for alcohol duty have been produced for Autumn Budget 2025, as shared in the Office for Budget Responsibility's Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Asked by: Gregory Stafford (Conservative - Farnham and Bordon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will revise forward-looking forecasts for revenue from alcohol duty.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
Alcohol duty receipts for the period March 2025 to October 2025, following the February 2025 rate increase, totalled £7.8 billion, down 4.5% from the same period in 2024 when receipts totalled £8.1 billion. This is driven by an underlying fall in alcohol consumption. Likely factors causing this decline, as identified in the Office for Budget Responsibility's Economic and Fiscal Outlook report published in November 2025, are a growing trend of alcohol moderation and a response to higher prices, as well as a potential impact from demographic changes. You can find the report here: https://obr.uk/economic-and-fiscal-outlooks/
New forecasts for alcohol duty have been produced for Autumn Budget 2025, as shared in the Office for Budget Responsibility's Economic and Fiscal Outlook.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to question 82442 on Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties, where evidence on the impact of the changes so far should be submitted to.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In March 2023, the previous government published its response to the new alcohol duty system consultation which ran from October 2021 to January 2022. Within that response was a commitment to evaluate the impacts of the new rates and structures three years after the changes take effect on 1 August 2023.
The previous government’s response can be found here: The new alcohol duty system: final consultation response
HMRC and HM Treasury began to monitor the impacts of the new rates and structure before the changes were introduced on 1 August 2023. The timeframes committed to should be an appropriate amount of time to gather useful and accurate data that could be used to understand the impacts in the alcohol market.
Plans are being formulated within HMRC for discussions with business via their trade associations as part of the evaluation work. In the meantime, the government always welcomes written feedback direct from parliamentarians and their constituents.
Asked by: Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative - Huntingdon)
Question to the HM Treasury:
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, pursuant to the Answer of 21 October 2025 to question 82442 on Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties, when HMRC will begin the evaluation of the new rates and structures.
Answered by Dan Tomlinson - Exchequer Secretary (HM Treasury)
In March 2023, the previous government published its response to the new alcohol duty system consultation which ran from October 2021 to January 2022. Within that response was a commitment to evaluate the impacts of the new rates and structures three years after the changes take effect on 1 August 2023.
The previous government’s response can be found here: The new alcohol duty system: final consultation response
HMRC and HM Treasury began to monitor the impacts of the new rates and structure before the changes were introduced on 1 August 2023. The timeframes committed to should be an appropriate amount of time to gather useful and accurate data that could be used to understand the impacts in the alcohol market.
Plans are being formulated within HMRC for discussions with business via their trade associations as part of the evaluation work. In the meantime, the government always welcomes written feedback direct from parliamentarians and their constituents.