Not grumpy | Director of Strategy & Communications @ScotchWhiskySWA 🥃 | #SupportScotch | Views my own
Edinburgh 🏴
Joined July 2009
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"Spirits suppliers have every right to feel aggrieved by yesterday's budget, which offered little in the way of support at a time when many are facing an unpleasant cocktail of declining sales and rising costs."
thegrocer.co.uk/comment-and-…
74p in every pound goes to tax as Scot whisky industry sounds alarm
heraldscotland.com/news/2667…
✍️ @MarkAGKent writes in this morning’s @thetimes - @hmtreasury thirst for whisky taxes is leaving us all worse off
thetimes.com/article/505be17…
Just the Chancellor downing a 4% abv pint of beer, which contains 2.3 units of alcohol
He should have had a double #ScotchWhisky - less alcohol, fewer calories
55% more tax on the 🥃 though, maybe that’s why…
Graeme Littlejohn retweeted
Fife whisky boss warns of duty hike’s damaging consequences ift.tt/J3yIekd
Looking at the small print of the @hmtreasury Budget, as you do...
There have been 5 forecasts since Labour came to power - and alcohol revenue has been seen significant downgrades
Even today, alcohol revenue was revised down by £1.1bn between 2026/27 and 2030/31, and that it just since the forecast in March
So, increase duty by 4.55% and bring in less revenue... 🤔
And the discrimination faced by #ScotchWhisky has increased over the last four Budgets
For one unit of alcohol, duty on spirits has increased by 3.9p per unit (ppu) between Aug 23 and Feb 27. For wine it is 3.5ppu, beer 2.6ppu and cider just 1.2ppu
Same unit, different rates
Good to speak to @ginadavidsonlbc earlier after a disappointing day for the #ScotchWhisky industry after a tax raising UK Budget 👇
The Budget is in - but Chancellor John Healy didn’t mention whisky. The small print shows duties will rise again - @littlegrumpyG of the @ScotchWhiskySWA says the constant duty hikes are costing jobs and growth, and successive Chancellors are failing to listen to industry
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Graeme Littlejohn retweeted
UK Budget 2026: Scotch whisky sector hails a 'disappointing blow' trib.al/hjzVzoB
Graeme Littlejohn retweeted
🗨️ “Looking beyond today's deeply disappointing #UKBudget, the government now needs to engage seriously with the industry about the challenges facing Scotch Whisky here at home.”
The SWA’s @littlegrumpyG on what the Budget result today means for #ScotchWhisky producers, for whom the excise duty burden rose to 74% today.
Learn more about why the #SpiritsSuperTax needs to be meaningfully addressed 👉 scotch-whisky.org.uk/policy-…
Duty on #ScotchWhisky has been hiked again.
That means duty on Scotch Whisky has now increased by 24% in just four years.
To put that into context, that's a bigger increase than we saw in the entire 15 years between 1995 and 2010.
The #SpiritsSuperTax just got worse.
Graeme Littlejohn retweeted
Today's #UKBudget announcement by Chancellor @JohnHealey_MP, "is a disappointing blow to the Scotch Whisky sector, its supply chain and the local communities it supports," writes our Chief Executive @MarkAGKent 🥃🗣️
In a statement, he said: “We’ve repeatedly warned that increasing the spirits super tax will not only pile further costs on distillers, but will harm the supply chain too and reduce Treasury revenue. Nobody wins when hard-pressed businesses are taxed to the hilt."
Today's budget announcement means that £12.84 of the average price of a bottle of Scotch Whisky will now be taken in tax, including £9.95 in excise duty on every bottle.
🔗 Read Mark Kent's full reactive statement on on website: scotch-whisky.org.uk/newsroo…
Confirmed: Duty on #ScotchWhisky and other spirits will increase by 4.55% in February 2027 - a massive increase which now takes the total tax increase to 24% over the last four years.
Cider makers, who already pay four times less in duty than #ScotchWhisky and other spirits on the same amount of alcohol, get a much needed tax break...
Why only brewers and cider makers? What about small distillers?
Yet another competitive disadvantage for distillers.
Budget day. A few things to look out for from #ScotchWhisky perspective
🆙 If the Chancellor says “no changes to previously planned upratings” that is code for a duty increase - for third time in as many years under Labour government
🍺 If ‘draught relief’ is cut this puts Scotch Whisky and other spirts at a further competitive disadvantage - it is a tax break only available to beer and cider producers
📉 Watch the OBR forecast. Latest spirits revenue forecast for 29/30 was £4.6bn - £1bn lower than forecast in the first Labour Budget in 2024
Graeme Littlejohn retweeted
A cut to spirits excise duty in Wednesday's Budget could:
🥃 Give producers greater room to grow and invest.
🌾 Support a UK supply chain that includes farmers, manufacturers and hospitality businesses.
📈 Help deliver a stronger, more sustainable tax base for @hmtreasury
Cut duty. Drive Treasury revenue. Boost the nation.
#SpiritsSuperTax #SupportScotch
Graeme Littlejohn retweeted
With just one day until the #UKBudget, MSPs from different political parties are joining calls for a more supportive tax environment for Scotch Whisky🥃📰
In a joint statement, @MorayLaura MSP and @murdo_fraser MSP said: “For all its global appeal and impact, Scotch Whisky needs a domestic environment that supports it, not stifles it."
Read the full article in this week's print edition of @pressjournal
pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/pol…
