Tax cut for beer and bingo to help living cost

George Osborne said changes to the way the Government supports investment in green energy would deliver a £15 saving on domestic bills on top of a £50 reduction from earlier measures.

He continued his commitment to freezing the duty on petrol and diesel by shelving an increase due in September, claiming the Government was now saving customers 20p per litre.

There was even help for bingo players in the shape of a cut in duty from 20 per cent to 10 per cent.

And as expected he raised the personal tax threshold to £10,500 which, according to Treasury figures, will take a further 25,000 Yorkshire people out of income tax.

But the scrapping of the alcohol duty escalator – which guaranteed drink prices would rise faster than the rate of inflation – represented the biggest turnaround for the Coalition which until last year was committed to a introducing a minimum price for alcohol.

Mr Osborne told the Commons: “We’ve introduced new laws to prevent alcohol being sold below minimum tax rates, and this helps prevent supermarkets undercutting pubs, and helps stop problem drinking.

“It’s a far more targeted approach than the alcohol duty escalator hated by many responsible drinkers.”

The move went against advice from doctors, with the Alcohol Health Alliance having warned the consequence would be an increase in alcohol abuse increasing pressure on the NHS.

Alongside the scrapping of the escalator, duty on Scotch whisky was frozen and beer duty reduced by a penny for the second year running.

Rob Theakston, managing director of the Black Sheep Brewery, in Masham, said: “Before the Budget, we called for a freeze on duty and it is a nice surprise to get even better than we were realistically looking for.

“This builds on last year and is great news for the beer industry and for pubs and those who work in them.

“We would like to see the Government continue to drive down the duty burden on beer and I am sure we will see a positive effect on the economy as the reductions encourage people to get out and support their local pubs.”

Mr Osborne said he would continue to raise tobacco duty by two per cent above inflation and he resisted calls from many Tory backbenchers to match a rise in the basic tax rate threshold with a similar increase in the level at which people starting paying 40p in the pound.

Since the prospects for the economy overall have improved, Labour has shifted its line of attack to what it calls the “cost of living crisis” and yesterday leader Ed Miliband returned to the theme as he responded to the Budget.

“The Chancellor spoke for nearly an hour but he did not mention one central fact: the working people of Britain are worse off under the Tories.

“Living standards down, month after month, year after year. Since the election working people’s living standards – £1,600 a year down. You are worse off under the Tories.

“Their 2010 manifesto promised ‘an economy where people’s standard of living rises steadily and sustainably’.

“But they have delivered exactly the opposite. Standards of living not rising steadily and sustainably, but falling sharply and steeply.

“And today you simply reminded people of the gap between your rhetoric and the reality of people’s lives.”