Price of cigarettes and wine set to increase despite Jeremy Hunt's 'Brexit' pubs guarantee

The cost of a bottle of wine is about to get more expensive despite the Chancellor's proposed 'Brexit' pubs guarantee set out in Wednesday's spring statement.

Jeremy Hunt announced that the duty charged on draught pints is to be frozen to help “the great British pub”, but drinkers will see tax on other alcohol soar by 10.1% in August. This is in line with inflation after a freeze during the peak of the cost-of-living crisis.

The price of a bottle of wine could increase by around 44p due to this. In a separate tax hike, the price of a 20-pack of cigarettes went up by £1.55 to £14.39 as of 6pm on Wednesday night following the tobacco tax hike, which saw cigarette levies go up by 10.1 per cent in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI), plus an extra minimum 2 per cent applied to pre-rolled tobacco products, the Sun says.

The duty on pints in pubs will drop to up to 11p lower than in supermarkets due to the freeze on draught pints, though. Mr Hunt said: "In December, I extended the alcohol duty freeze until August 1, after which duties will go up in line with inflation in the usual way.

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“But today, I will do something that was not possible when we were in the EU and significantly increase the generosity of Draught Relief so that from August 1 the duty on draught products in pubs will be up to 11p lower than the duty in supermarkets, a differential we will maintain as part of a new Brexit pubs guarantee." He added: "British ale may be warm, but the duty on a pint is frozen."

However an increased duty on higher strength drinks is also due to be ushered in as part of reforms of alcohol duty announced in 2021. This will mean a 44p increase in the price