Despite sparking warnings the move will devastate Britain’s remaining bars, chancellor Rachel Reeves is intent on hammering landlords with a ‘last straw’ tax jump in a matter of weeks.
Rachel Reeves’ relentless war on our pubs is set to include a “nail in the coffin” £400million tax blow next month. The doom-and-gloom chancellor is set to hammer Britain’s beleaguered remaining bars with a “last straw” raid on pints, spirits and glasses of wine.
Allen Simpson, chief executive of UKHospitality, warned: “This will be the last straw for some pubs.”
One pub a day has closed since Sir Keir Starmer became Prime Minister. And industry experts have warned there could soon be no pubs left in Britain if they continue to be hammered by the government. Reeves’ latest move against bars will see alcohol duty rise by an inflation-busting 3.66% at the start of February.
It’s equal to around 2p on the price of a pint in a pub.
Even though it may seem like a small increase, experts say it could spell death for the bar industry as landlords are still reeling from the 2025 increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions and jumps in the minimum wage. Pubs are also facing a brutal hike in business rates from spring.
Experts say Reeves’ planned rise in alcohol duty is a kick in the teeth as she is using an outdated – and discredited – measure of inflation to calculate the rise.
It’s based on the retail price index, a measure of living costs the government has admitted contains “flaws” and “at times overstates and at times understates changes in prices”.
The inflation measure has also not been classed as an official statistic for more than 10 years.
Using it means the alcohol duty increase will be around 50% bigger than it would have been if Reeves had used the consumer price index – the recognised measure of inflation.
The Chancellor has been accused of lying to Brits after insisting that she was cutting business rates to their lowest since 1991 for more than 750,000 retail, hospitality and leisure properties.
Tories say it is a “statistically misleading” claim as they relate only to one part of the sum used to calculate the business rates bill.
They also state it is part of the government “gaslighting” the nation and businesspeople.
A Treasury spokesman said: “Changes to alcohol duty balance the important contribution of producers, pubs and hospitality with funding vital public services and the harms caused by alcohol.
“We have also stepped in to cap business rates bills at 15 per cent or lower.”