Q&A: Alcohol duty: some relief in Spring Budget but the hospitality sector wanted more

The chancellor of the exchequer Jeremy Hunt announced in the Spring Budget that the duty rates on beer cider wine and spirits would be frozen at the current rates from 1 August 2024 until 1 February 2025.

This is an extension to the previous alcohol duty freeze announced in last year’s Autumn Statement that took effect on 1 February 2024 and was scheduled to last for six months. The chancellor said this move will benefit some 38 000 pubs across the UK although commentators were quick to suggest it would primarily assist the producers of alcohol.

How generous are these measures?

There were also questions as to how generous the chancellor had actually been given that when similar freezes have been announced before they have tended to result in more revenue for the Treasury rather than less as typically when increases in duty have been introduced...