This evening I spoke in the debate in Parliament on the proposed changes to the Small Breweries Relief (SBR) that are being brought forward by the Government.
This is an issue that I have been working closely on with our two fantastic independent small breweries - Signal Brewery and Anspach & Hobday Brewery - in recent months, as well as liaising with SIBA (the Society of Independent Brewers, the representative body for small craft breweries), and I very much share the concerns that they have raised with me.
As I said in a previous update, the SBR - the progressive tax system that revolutionised brewing and allowed small breweries to grow - grants small breweries a 50 per cent reduction on the beer duty for those producing less than 5,000 hectolitres of beer in a year – which is about 900,000 pints. It means that smaller breweries pay a more proportionate amount of tax on the small amount of beer they product compared to the global giants.
However, there are concerns in the industry that, under the potential plans for changes announced by the Government in July, the 50 per cent threshold will be reduced from 5,000hl to just 2,100hl, which will mean that many small independent breweries across the UK will have to pay more tax while those larger in size will pay the same amount or even less.
As Liz Saville Roberts, the MP who brought the debate to Parliament yesterday, said: "For those not fluent in brewers’ terms, this means more than halving the support for small breweries from about 900,000 pints to about 370,000 pints."
I raised concerns that now is not the right time to be considering wholesale changes to small brewers who have done so much to revolutionise and diversify the craft beer sector, and that disincentivising growth for these smaller breweries - many of whom want to expand and grow, including looking to exporting Great British Beer around the world - is going to have a hugely negative impact on the number of brewers operating in the UK.
The debate itself was well attended for a half hour Adjournment Debate, with 15 Members from a range of different political parties speaking, and I am very grateful to Liz - the Member for Dwyfor Meirionnydd - for being so generous with her time and taking so many interventions.
The Minister, in her response, assured us that the full technical consultation on the proposed changes will be forthcoming later this year, and I very much look forward to seeing it in full, and I will be encouraging as many people to respond as would wish to. Whilst I welcome the Minister's commitment "to ensure that the British brewing renaissance continues", I remain concerned about the impact that the proposed changes are going to have on our fantastic small breweries, in particular that bigger breweries like Theakston's - a popular brewery no doubt, as it is one of the top 20 largest in the UK - are being compared to smaller craft breweries like Signal and Anspach & Hobday in terms of their market share.
You can read a full transcript of the debate here, and you can view my intervention and exchange with Liz Saville Roberts above.
Jack Hobday from Anspach and Hobday Brewery has created a petition to raise breweries’ concerns which has now attracted more than 50,000 signatures, and is being backed by SIBA. You can sign the petition here: https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/334066
I will continue to work with Signal, Anspach & Hobday, and SIBA to reach a positive solution for our small breweries sector, and I look forward to working constructively with other Members from all parties to press the Government to ensure that this vital support - the Small Breweries Relief - continues to allow craft beer to survive and thrive.
