Newbury MP Lauras Farris reacts to the Budget

West Berkshire CAMRA chairman encourages pub use as coronvirus fund announced

NEWBURY MP Laura Farris has said that a business rates freeze would be "transformational" for West Berkshire's high streets.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced yesterday that the planned rise in beer, cider, wine and spirit duty would be cancelled.

He also said that the business rate discount for pubs would be £5,000, not £1,000 as originally thought, which applies to pubs with a rateable value below £100,000.

Business rate bills will also be abolished for a year on property with a rateable value less than £51,000.

Mrs Farris said that the rates decision was "massive" and that many companies in the constituency had contacted her about the issue.

She said: "Having a year's reprieve is absolutely going to be transformational for the high street and also for our pubs. I think we are the kind of constituency that will really benefit from that."

Mrs Farris had backed a campaign calling for beer duty to be cut. Commenting on the duty freezes in the budget, she said: "I didn't get that but I think it's the first time in 20 years that one has not been raised."

Statistics from the office of Mrs Farris said there are currently 113 pubs and seven breweries in her Newbury constituency – the industry directly employs 1,545 people and invests £4.4m locally.

About half the people employed by pubs and breweries are young people (755).

Mrs Farris is backing the Long Live the Local Campaign, designed to help keep pub doors open through practical measures such as cutting beer duty and further business rates reform.

The campaign is fronted by Britain’s Beer Alliance, a group of publicans and microbreweries.

Mrs Farris had said: “We’re lucky to have some lovely pubs in Newbury.

“Not only do they create jobs and contribute to the local economy, they are the heart of our villages and communities and we must keep them open.

“Sadly, we’ve seen about 10 per cent of them close in the last decade and I’m working with the industry and Government to try and turn this around.

“Our local pubs pay £22m a year in taxes, and one of the big issues pub landlords raise with me is the burden of tax they face.”

One pound in every £3 spent in UK pubs goes to the taxman. Seven in 10 alcoholic drinks served in pubs are beer.

West Berkshire CAMRA chairman Andy Pinkard said: “I think freezing the duty relief, that absolutely supports pubs, every penny counts in a pub.

“It’s big on a national level, but to the local pub… does the landlord get the benefits of that? That depends how they get the beer supplied.

“It could have been much better.

“CAMRA would have liked to see a differential rate of duty for off-licence versus on-licence, fundamentally encouraging people to consume beer and cider in pubs against being able to buy it cheap in a supermarket.”

The chancellor also announced that £26bn would be available to respond to the impact of coronavirus on the economy.

Mr Pinkard encouraged people to support their local during the outbreak, saying: “It’s definitely going to hit the pubs and probably going to hit the more marginalised pubs.

“Not the ones in Newbury town centre, the ones that people travel to.”

On the rate relief, he said: “It’s great news, better than nothing at all, but I guess the message to people in West Berkshire is to keep visiting the pub – they need our business.”

Other budget headlines include a charge on manufacturers and importers of plastic packaging of £200 per tonne on packaging made of less than 30 per cent recycled plastic.

Mr Sunak said the move would increase the use of recycled plastic in packaging by 40 per cent – equal to carbon savings of nearly 200,000 tonnes.

The levy on electricity will also be frozen and raised on gas. However, the energy and packing changes will not be introduced until 2022. Fuel duty will also be frozen for another year.

Mrs Farris said the plastic tax would be really welcome as plastic and plastic recycling was a significant issue in her constituency.

When asked whether the 2022 was to far off, Mrs Farris said she thought the date was realistic. And although she did not know the reason for the time length, Mrs Farris said it was a practical one.

Mrs Farris welcomed the NHS pension tax threshold rising by £90,000 as GPs and clinical commissioning groups had said the threshold was having a bad effect on doctors taking additional shifts.