Euro MP Paul in plea to cut beer duty (From The Bolton News)

Euro MP Paul in plea to cut beer duty

9:20am Tuesday 18th December 2012 in News

BOLTON Euro MP Paul Nuttall has accused George Osborne of “hammering the final nail” into the “ailing pub trade”.

The UKIP deputy leader, who represents the borough in the European Parliament, claims the Chancellor will lose £100 million this year because beer taxes are “too high” and punters are cutting back on their favourite tipples.

Mr Nuttall runs UKIP's “Save the Pub” campaign and the party claims beer drinkers pay 42 per cent more in tax since the beer duty escalator was introduced in 2008, with a billion fewer pints now being drunk.

Mr Nuttall said: “Pubs are at the centre of communities but they have been decimated by a number of factors and the picture is increasingly bleak.

“Beer duty needs to be cut to encourage drinkers back into pubs and it would also help the micro brewery industry in this country.

“It is obvious that beer taxes are too high and this is driving drinkers away.”