Reduction of the Small Brewers Relief

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.