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Cigarettes And Rolling Tobacco Get More Expensive Following The Latest Budget

Cigarettes And Rolling Tobacco Get More Expensive Following The Latest Budget

Alternatively, you could just quit - you'll feel better and have more money

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the budget announced by Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond yesterday was mostly concerned with a new 50p piece to commemorate an event that no-one actually knows what form it will take yet, but you'd be wrong.

In actual fact, the budget has a direct effect on just about everything that we buy, or own, and this time around that is bad news if you're a smoker.

Obviously, it's better not to be a smoker at all - but if you are, it won't have passed you by that they're pretty bloody pricey these days.

PA

Well, get prepared for it to get even more expensive. According to the latest budget, a pack of 20 fags is going to become 33p more expensive. The news is worse if you roll your own, as they're going to be 48p.

That's an increase of two percent and three percent respectively, and it came into effect at 6pm yesterday evening - the very same day as the budget was announced.

Should you want to change style and switch to a different form of tobacco smoking, incidentally, pipe tobacco and cigars are also set to rise by 22p and 17p respectively.

During the presentation of the budget, Hammond announced that - on top of a pack of bines being more expensive - there would be more money put aside to improve Britain's roads. The army, social care, and Universal Credit - the government's controversial new benefits system - are also set to be allocated more funds.

PA

On the upside, if you're a beer drinker, you're going to see that pint stay the same price. OK, so they're expensive as it is, but the take-home message is they will be just that little bit cheaper.

It was announced that the duty on each pint will remain the same as it has been which, given the rate of inflation, will take about 2p off each pint. That's also true for cider and spirits such as gin or whisky.

Sure, it's not much, but it is something.

It's bad news for wine aficionados, though. The duty to be paid on wine is going to rise by the rate of inflation.

Oh, but even this isn't guaranteed.

PA

Mr Hammond also said that in the event of a 'No Deal' Brexit - whereby the European Union and Britain fail to agree terms for the UK to leave the EU in March - he would have to tear up this budget and write another one.

He told Sky News: "If we were to find ourselves in that situation then we would need to take a different approach to the future of Britain's economy,

"We would need to look at a different strategy. And frankly we'd need to have a new budget that set out a different strategy for the future."

Whatever the tax, you should probably knock the smoking on the head anyway.

Featured Image Credit: PA

Topics: government, UK News, Cigarettes, Alcohol, UK, Politics