In a Commons debate on 23 April, Lib Dem MP, Martin Horwood, said to parliamentary colleagues “…Does he agree that having a differential duty that is more generous to beer and encourages drinking in traditional family pubs would actually create a social environment that militates against binge drinking, which is an important factor in the wider issue?” One Labour MP (Clive Betts) said “I think it does and I have written to my hon. Friend the Exchequer Secretary to say that a differential tax—on beer sold in supermarkets as opposed to beer sold in pubs—would be very helpful. It may well be that we cannot do that, but it is an issue that needs addressing.”
Then came the interesting part. The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Angela Eagle MP said, as she has made clear several times before, “On that very point, we have looked at this matter and I am afraid that EU directives work in such a way as to make it impossible to tax the same item differentially, according to where it is sold. That is simply not possible.”
So, we cannot tax items with some equivalence in different ways, and therefore remain reflexive, because we are stuck within an unfair framework of EU Directives, which bind HM Treasury to insisting on uniform VAT on beer in general. It is clear the dithering and inconsequential debate must end – the only practical way out is renegotiation.
