AS Chancellor Ken Clarke announced his budget today, CAMRA warned that only massive beer tax cuts could revive the pub industry and increase jobs.

Campaign for Real Ale called for beer duty to be cut by two thirds reducing the price of a pint in a pub by at least 30p.

They claimed that only by introducing a three year plan to reduce beer duty on a pint to bring it in line with the European average of 8p will licensees have any hope of competing with 'Calais run' which brings in 1.1 million pints of beer every day.

"This is the equivalent trade of 6,000 pubs. This trade would be eliminated by a substantial duty cut: it would be replaced by fair competition based on quality," said CAMRA campaigns manager Stephen Cox.

He added: "It is the small community pub which relies most heavily on beer sales and which is most at risk fro the current illogical high tax policy. "Current beer duty is 25 pence on a typical beer. We want duty cut by at least 5 pence a pint this year and in the next two Budget."

Companies responsible for more than 95 per cent of the British beer production from the Brewers and Licensed Retailers Association have pledged to pass the tax cuts in full to customers.

Research has shown that beer tax cuts would be largely self-financing after the second year.

Stephen added: "Cutting beer duty revives the pub industry, which employs 900,000 people directly and indirectly. It is an effective way of boosting British jobs, British business and local economy."

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