IT IS sad that such a proud, independent and award-winning company as Blackburn brewer Daniel Thwaites has to axe jobs in order to survive.

But it is a crazy and cruel state of affairs when, in effect, those lost jobs are being exported to Europe because of cheap beer from Europe flooding - much of it illicitly - into Britain.

Drinkers can hardly be blamed for going for the low-cost booze, be it bootlegged or brought into the country by the car-load for their own personal consumption as the law allows.

But it is not a fair market for the UK drinks trade, not when much lower duty on drink in Europe makes our producers and retailers unable to compete price-wise.

And the smuggling explosion that has come with this inequality is not a harmless wheeze - it is costing taxpayers' untold millions of pounds in making up for the lost revenue and, as we see with the job losses at Thwaites, it is costing people their livelihoods.

When is the government going to wake up and stop this dangerous drain - by fixing duty on UK drink much closer to the rates across the Channel?

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.