Major changes to alcohol prices in the UK 'to be announced this week'

Buying a round of pints for you and your mates used to feel like the normal thing to do.

But nowadays it’s starting to feel like something you practically have to budget for - and it could be getting worse.

Tomorrow (22 November) Chancellor Jeremy Hunt will deliver his Autumn Statement.

This is where the Government updates the Commons on the state of the economy and also typically announces any tax and spending decisions.

Among rumoured income tax cuts, a living wage rise and tougher sanctions for benefits, there could be changes to alcohol duty.

This is the tax charged at the point of production or importation for drinks with an alcoholic strength over 1.2 percent abv and it differs from beers, wines and spirits.

So yeah, you guessed it, we’re talking about a potential rise in the price for your favourite tipple.

Multiple reports suggest that tomorrow’s statement could see a rise in alcohol duty, in line with the retail price index at 8.9 percent.

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According to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) if the duty increases, the average price of a bottle of red wine would go up to a mega £8 from £7.72.

This would be the second rise in alcohol duty in just four months, following an increase on 1 August which saw alcohol taxed on strength.

And the average price of a bottle of gin or vodka is also expected to go over £18 for the first time.

Now prepare yourself, if the alcohol duty isn’t frozen in tomorrow’s statement, pints could go up by 20p - making a night at the pub that bit more expensive.

Landlords, brewers and distillers are pleading for the Chancellor to freeze alcohol duty, to prevent yet another rise in prices.

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Miles Beale, Chief Executive of the WSTA, said: “We are calling for a freeze for the remainder of this Parliament to prevent budget busting price rises.

“In August the Treasury introduced the largest alcohol tax hike for almost 50 years adding over 10% duty increase for spirits and over 20% increase for 4 out of 5 wines of all wine sold in the UK.

“A further rise would make a mockery of the Government’s priority is to cut inflation as further prices rises will lead to reduced sales and less revenue to the Exchequer.”

He also previously added that a second duty rise on alcohol ‘could prove the final nail in the coffin for some British drinks businesses’.

LADbible has contacted HM Treasury for comment.