PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
Reduction of the Small Brewers Relief (18 January 2021)

That this House believes the proposed reduction in Small Brewers Relief for brewers below 5,000 hectolitres and the introduction of a cash basis will be disastrous for Britain’s internationally renowned craft brewery industry; notes that the introduction of Small Brewers Relief in 2002, designed to enable small breweries to compete with multinationals to compensate for a lack of market access and to encourage diversity in a heavily monopolised market, led to a flourishing, hugely successful, diverse and exciting British industry; further believes that this proposal risks undoing all the benefits of Small Brewers Relief over the last two decades and could be the death knell for the industry; recognises that this will threaten thousands of jobs, a national industry of great value and consumer choice; is deeply concerned that this will add to the already enormous pressures the industry is facing, recognising that due to the covid-19 outbreak and its impact on the closely related industry of hospitality, beer sales have fallen by 80 per cent and two small breweries are going out of business every week; finds it shocking that the Government’s technical consultation on Small Brewers Relief fails to take into account the tremendous impact of covid-19 on the industry; is concerned that the Treasury itself acknowledges that there are significant issues in how production cost data was gathered; and believes that, if the problem identified in the consultation is the challenges faced by medium sized brewers in a market dominated by multinationals, legislation that makes it harder for small brewers to compete is not a solution to this.

Sponsored by:
Olivia Blake (Labour)