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With less than three weeks to go until Budget day, speculation is mounting: will the Chancellor listen to the thousands who have emailed their MPs and make a popular pre-election cut in alcohol duty? The case in favour is compelling.

• Duty is already unfairly high. Nearly 80% of an average priced bottle of spirits and nearly 60% of an average priced bottle of wine is tax.
• UK consumers pay the Chancellor more than two thirds of all wine duties collected across the 28 Member States of the EU.
• The UK is Europe’s leading spirits producer, accounting for 18% of employment across the EU;
• Spirits has only received two tax cuts in the last 100 years, and wine hasn’t received a tax cut since 1984.

Independent research by EY shows that dropping the duty by 2% would not only increase GDP, create jobs and support pubs and the wider hospitality sector. Crucially, it would also enable the Chancellor to stand up for responsible drinkers and boost the public f inances by more than £1 billion. So a cut could help dent the deficit, not add to it. Please make your voice heard: it’s time to drop the duty.