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Finance Bill

Yes. I think that we are aware of most of the problems facing the industry. I would not be opposed to a further study but we need action now rather than awaiting such a study. The drinks trade and pub businesses are vital employers. According to the Oxford Economics study, some 31,000 people are employed in the UK in drinks manufacture. I shall try to relate this point to duty. Just over half are employed in producing beer, some 35 per cent. in producing spirits, 6 per cent. in producing cider and wine and the 6 per cent. remainder in producing other drinks. Much of that employment is in rural communities, where other jobs on offer are limited. It helps to sustain them, as my hon. Friend the Member for Braintree (Mr. Newmark) and others have noted. People involved in beer production in England and Wales are 50 per cent. more likely to live in a rural community than the national average for those in employment overall. The breweries are doing no better. I am in constant correspondence about duty levels with Fuller, Smith and Turner, which is located just outside my constituency and makes the excellent London Pride beer. I mentioned that I was in Wiltshire with some colleagues a few weeks ago, and we went to the Wadworth brewery in Devizes to see at first hand how one of Britain's medium-sized firms was faring under the big increases in duty. It is surviving, partly thanks to the quality of products such as 6X and some of the lighter brews.