We are just a few days away from a decision that could potentially wipe out the illegal trade in beer and return about £550m a year in lost duty to the Treasury.

One in 10 cans and bottles of beer on UK stores’ shelves is illegally sold tax-free, which represents a huge drain on the Exchequer and is equally damaging for the FWD members trying to compete with the proliferation of suspiciously cheap alcohol sellers targeting their independent retail customers. In some parts of the country, it’s becoming impossible for wholesalers to sell top UK-produced beer brands above cost, such is the extent to which the illicit trade has been allowed free rein to turn the heads of unwitting small businesses.

It’s quite clear that enforcement after the fact just doesn’t work - a view FWD shares with the National Audit Office - so we’ve pushed hard for the introduction of preventative measures to stop the fraud before it occurs, measures that formed part of a government consultation on duty fraud.

That’s why the wholesale trade will be crowding round the office TVs when the Chancellor reveals his Budget on March 20, anticipating positive action to bring beer back into the legitimate, responsible and duty-collecting channel.

Fiscal marks, like those on spirits and tobacco, would make it impossible to divert stock on to the UK market without paying duty. Integral to the can design or label, the mark would require UK brewers to assess the true export volume of their products.

They say the move would be a legislative burden, inviting the Chancellor to choose between mild regulation of the market or recovering revenue. We like to think there’s only one way to go.

We’ve worked hard to get to this critical point. The Treasury has other options to consider, but none that would so effectively take the £550m annual gift it is giving to criminals and restore it to the government’s pocket.

And in doing that, it will put the supply chain back into the hands of the wholesale sector and the hundreds of thousands of small businesses it supplies and supports.

James Bielby is chief executive of the FWD

Topics