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WSTA wins duty campaign award
The Wine and Spirit Trade Association’s flagship “Call Time on Duty” campaign, which last year successfully called for the UK government to cut duty on wine and spirits, has been honoured at a PR award ceremony.
Miles Beale, chief executive, Wine and Spirit Trade Association (left) and David Frost, chief executive, Scotch Whisky Association (right) launching this year’s “Drop the Duty” campaign calling for a 2% cut in alcohol duty
The “Call Time on Duty” initiative, run in collaboration with the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) and the Taxpayers’ Alliance, picked up the Best PR Campaign award at the annual Association Excellence Awards in London.
After successful lobbying by the campaigners, the chancellor George Osborne scrapped the so-called “duty escalator” on wine and spirits that had ramped up taxes on the industry for the preceding six years.
Since the escalator’s introduction in 2008, taxes on wine increased by 54% and spirits by 44%.
The campaign, which was awarded by former Conservative party front-bench MP Michael Portillo, was credited for its use of independent economic research, a dedicated website and appearing in national and trade media to drive constituents to write to their MP and urge the chancellor to scrap the escalator.
Commenting, Miles Beale, chief executive of the WSTA, said, “The Call Time on Duty campaign was a significant turning point for the wine and spirit industry.
“Through unprecedented industry cooperation we successfully built enough momentum to persuade the Chancellor to remove the punitive duty escalator after six years.”
The award comes as the WSTA and its partners are in the middle of this year’s “Drop the Duty” campaign, urging the chancellor to further 2% cut on duty for the wine and spirits industries.
A 2% cut in duty would boost public finances by over £1 billion annually through increased investment across the industry; greater tax income from corporation tax and VAT; and from the benefits of jobs created in pubs, bars, restaurants, shops and the wider supply chain, according to the campaign.
UK consumers pay nearly 80% tax on an average priced bottle of spirits and almost 60% on an average priced bottle of wine.