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by Andrew Catchpole
Published: July 03, 2024
With the UK general election approaching and the current Prime Minister conceding a crushing defeat, the West of England Miners Association has issued an open letter calling on the incoming government to make the fee relief permanent.
The letter, signed by 57 of the most prominent companies in the drinks sector, urged the next government to “commit to making the temporary exemption on wine at between 11.5% and 14.5% permanent before its planned expiry on February 1, 2025.”
The increase comes on the back of the biggest tariff increases in nearly 50 years, which already added an average of 20% tariffs on wine and 10% on spirits earlier this year.
The letter highlighted the £70 billion in economic activity generated by the wine and spirits sector each year, and said: “It is vital that the next government recognises that withdrawing the easement would create significant, unnecessary and ongoing operating costs, as well as unmanageable operational complications.”
The coalition of signatories to this letter appears to be a who's who of the beverage industry, from Avery's to Zonin, Amps Wine Merchants, Cambridge Wine Merchants, Canned Wine Co., Enotria&Coe, Liberty Wines, Treasury Wine Estates, Virgin Wines, and WSET, to name a few.
The full letter can be read here:
Letter to the next government regarding easement
dear sir
As a coalition of wine businesses from across the UK, we are publishing this letter to urge the incoming government to commit to making the temporary 11.5% to 14.5% wine exemption permanent before it expires on 1 February 2025.
It is vital that the next government recognises that withdrawing the easement would create significant and unnecessary operating costs and unmanageable operational complexity. Making the easement permanent would maintain fixed duty on over 85% of wines on the UK market.
The UK wine and spirits industry generates over £70 billion of economic activity, with more than 60% of the 413,000 full-time jobs in the sector supported by hospitality.
The next government must recognise this economic contribution and commit to working towards a sustainable and proportionate regulatory regime that helps protect an industry rich in small and medium-sized businesses in the UK, including more than 1,000 independent wine merchants. Since last August, businesses have already had to cope with the biggest tariff increases in nearly 50 years: an average of 20% duty on a bottle of wine and more than 10% on spirits.
The new government must act. Maintaining the facilities would be a logical solution that is cost effective and maintains a stable business environment.
