THE WINE MERCHANT. An independent magazine for independent retailers
Issue 136, June 2024
Dog of the month: Maud The Halland, Isle of Wight
Just remove one sentence, and duty chaos will be gone Election candidates must be told that indies will go under if excise scheme goes ahead – and that the solution is simple
I
ndependent merchants are being urged to make a final attempt to persuade
politicians not to proceed with next
year’s duty reforms, which are widely
expected to cause mayhem for importers and retailers.
With the general election campaign
underway, the Wine & Spirit Trade Association believes it is an ideal
opportunity to convince candidates from
all parties that the tiered system, scheduled
carry on indefinitely. Nothing difficult to
achieve, no drama: just remove a sentence and move on.”
Wilson warns there are “dire
consequences” for independent businesses if this doesn’t happen. He asks merchants to “make another demand for the change if our beloved independent wine trade is to survive”, even if they have previously
contacted their MPs about the issue.
The WSTA is running a survey on its
website, which takes three minutes to complete, allowing independent
businesses to spell out to politicians the
costs and admin that the legislation in its current form will create.
• More on pages 12 and 13.
to come into force on February 1, will be disastrous for the UK wine trade.
As things stand, the Treasury’s so-called
duty easement policy means that wines with an alcoholic strength of between
11.5% and 14.5% are taxed at the same rate, of £2.67 a bottle.
But when this temporary measure
comes to an end, there will be “a different calculation of duty for each of the 136
possible abvs between 8.5% and 22%,”
warns Cambridge Wine Merchants owner
Hal Wilson, who is also calling on indies to make their case to election candidates.
Writing in The Wine Merchant, Wilson
argues that avoiding the chaos of the new system could be achieved very simply. “The government knew there was
a problem with the policy, adopted a
workable solution, then wrote into the law that the solution will come to an end on February 1, 2025,” he says.
“We need the solution to be allowed to
The Wine Merchant Top 100 stand was one of the busiest areas at this year’s London Wine Fair. More pictures on page 18.