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Alcoholic Drinks: Excise Duties

Asked by Aphra BrandrethConservativeTreasuryTabled Answered 4 September 2025UIN 70193

The question

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of increasing the level of draft duty relief.

Answered by Dan Tomlinson

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.

Draught beer and cider now pay 13.9% less in duty than their packaged equivalents – an increase of over 50% on the previous draught discount of 9.2%.

The Chancellor makes decisions on tax policy at fiscal events. The Government welcomes representations from the beer and pub sectors in advance of the Budget.

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