UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne has cut duty on spirits and cider by 2% and froze duty on wine and slashed the price of beer by a penny a pint for the third year now.
In the budget speech presented in the House of Commons, the Chancellor said: "Today I am cutting beer duty for the third year in a row and taking another penny off a pint.
"I am also cutting cider duty by 2% to support our producers in the West country and elsewhere and to back one of the UK's biggest exports, the duty on Scotch whisky and other spirits will be cut by 2% as well. Wine duty will be frozen, more pubs saved, jobs created, families supported and a penny off a pint for the third year in the row."
Welcoming this decision, Wine and Spirit Trade Association chief executive Miles Beale said: "We are delighted that the Government has listened to consumers and taken action to address the UK's excessive spirit duty rates. This small drop in duty will result in a big cheer for the UK's 24m spirit consumers."
"We campaigned for a cut in duty across all products and are disappointed that the UK's 30m wine consumers did not receive a duty cut too. But freezing wine duty is an improvement and a first step towards supporting wine businesses that are looking to invest in the UK, create jobs and back British pubs."
The Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) too hailed the government's decision to cut excise duty on spirits by 2% as historic.
SWA said it is a move that is both fair to consumers and a significant boost to a home-grown industry.
This is the first cut in spirits duty in almost two decades and is only the fourth time that excise on whisky has dropped in a century.
