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Finance Bill

My hon. Friend is a distinguished member of the Select Committee on Business and Enterprise, and a report on the subject is due soon. I look forward to reading it. Clearly, the tie is important and it has been brought to our attention in much of the evidence that we have taken. The measures that we have introduced to support all businesses also support the British pub. They include enabling pubs to spread payment of this year's inflation uprating to business rates over three years. The business payment support service has already allowed 116,000 businesses to defer more than £2 billion of tax, and that has benefited many pubs. There is improved access to finance for small businesses through the enterprise finance guarantee, which is now available for the first time to tied pubs. There is also support through low cost loans and advice on energy efficiency for small businesses, including many pubs, in order to make savings on their energy bills. There was much talk of the balance between the on and the off trade in the debate. Many hon. Members know that we cannot charge a different rate of excise duty for the same product if it is sold in a different context. We cannot discriminate by setting a lower duty for pubs than for supermarkets. When alcohol excise rates increase, pubs often put up their prices by 5p. The duty increases are 1p extra on beer this time round, yet the prices in many places are going up by 5p. That exacerbates the difference between the on and the off price of beer and causes difficulty. I want to spend a short time dealing with the questions that the right hon. Member for Wokingham (Mr. Redwood) asked. He did not seem to know that the national average cost of a pint is £2.51. One can get a pint for £3.20 at the "Westminster Arms" over the road, but the right hon. Gentleman could have bought a pint for 99p at "Gig House" in his constituency from January because Wetherspoon had a special price for beer. The right hon. Gentleman asked why some of the changes in excise duty were higher than the 2 per cent. announced in the Budget. That is because the Finance Bill, as I suspect he knows only too well, includes the legislation that will put into effect the increases that were introduced in the pre-Budget report, as well those in the Budget. We have had a good debate. I want now to deal with the points raised by the hon. Member for Dundee, East (Stewart Hosie) in respect of his amendment 12. Amendment 12 seeks to require the Government, before the 2009 pre-Budget report, to publish anticipated yields from alcohol duty and the estimated levels of duty, based on alcohol content, that would need to be levied to maintain that yield. Estimates from the pre-Budget report are available. In 2008-09, spirit duty is estimated to raise £2.4 billion, wine £2.7 billion and beer and cider combined £3.4 billion. Many spirit products produced in the UK are exported and are therefore not subject to UK excise duty. For example, more than 90 per cent. of Scotch whisky is exported, and the level of Scotch whisky exports grew by 8 per cent. in 2008.