Seven Days to save the Pub

Went to a press conference yesterday as the Axe the Beer Tax campaign enters its final week. I doubt whether the eerie Alastair Darling will listen, but the case against raising the tax now seems irrefutable:

Rate of pub closures is up to 39 a week – that’ll increase further if the tax goers through
2000 pubs have gone to the wall since last year’s budget
Last year’s 18% tax rise has cost the beer and pub industry an additional £540 million – and yet the total tax revenue from beer has gone down thanks to the tax slaughtering demand for beer.

MPs have shown an astonishing level of disapproval for the proposed further tax rise:

70% of all MPs oppose further tax rises
202 MPs have now signed the EDM calling for the rise to be scrapped – that’s only the fourth EDM EVER to get more than 200 MPs signed up, and the first time an EDM about fiscal policy has received such strong support.
45% of Labour’s own back benchers oppose the rise. It’s rare for such a high level of back bench revolt.

MPs only do things for political reasons. There’s an election looming, and this widespread support for the pub industry can only mean they think beer tax rises are a vote loser, that their constituents are unhappy with their local pubs shutting down.

There’s still a week left to help change this cretin’s mind. If you haven’t already done so, please sign up – you can see it’s working.