Dear Mr Osborne,

I’m curious, George. You are willing to put the brakes on fuel duty - axing the 3p-a-litre increase planned for the new year - yet have been deaf to calls for an end to the beer duty escalator.

How many more organisations, businesses and MPs must raise their voices against the annual increase that has contributed to the tax on a pint of beer soaring by 42% since 2008? Particularly as - according to the British Beer & Pub Association - beer duty revenue has risen just 8%.

But what’s this? Only days before your Autumn Statement, French beer tax was hiked by a shocking 160% - so at least we are better off than our Continental cousins, right?

Wrong. Despite the eye-watering increase on the other side of the Channel, UK beer tax is still three times higher than in France (once again, according to the BBPA) and 13 times that of Germany. It’s enough to turn you to drink.

My tone may be glib, but I talk to enough people on both sides of the retail fence - suppliers and buyers - to know this isn’t a joking matter.

These tax increases have already taken a heavy toll on the pub trade and are also making their presence felt, in no uncertain terms, in Britain’s supermarkets. As we get ready to publish our annual Top Products report on 15 December, the data compiled for it shows off-trade lager volumes are down 1.3% year-on-year, while ale and stout have crashed 5.4%.

There are obviously more factors at play here than duty - but it sure isn’t helping the situation, and is just one of the rising costs that will make negotiations between drinks suppliers and supermarket buyers particularly tricky next year (see this weekend’s The Grocer magazine for more on that situation).

So, come on George. Brewers will have welcomed the news on fuel duty - but really give them something to raise a glass to when you present your full Budget next year.

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