In today’s Budget Chancellor Rishi Sunak said the government is expanding its support for the whisky industry by freezing spirits duty for this year and providing funding for the distillery industry to ‘go green’
The Treasury is allocating £10m for research and development spending to help decarbonise UK distilleries, including the whisky sector.
In addition, the government-backed Great Britain and Northern Ireland campaign will fund a £1m push to promote the Scottish food and drink sector. This will include additional trade promotion to increase awareness and change perceptions of Scottish food and drink exports, including Scotch whisky. It will also expand tourism promotion campaigns to reach new markets.
Planned tax rises on beer and wine were also scrapped, as part of a freezing on duty across all alcoholic drinks. This Budget marks only the second time that has happened in 20 years, the Chancellor said.
