Finance Bill

Sadly, Madam Deputy Speaker, that is the sum total of breweries in my constituency, but I am doing my best to make setting up new ones an attractive proposition for people. My point is that all those breweries are directly affected by reductions in beer sales. That may sound like a statement of the obvious, but we tend to concentrate on the business at the end of the supply chain—that is, the pub landlord selling a pint of beer to the customer—but the breweries are also employers in my area. They are more than just employers, too, as they are also part of the heritage and fabric of the area. People in Taunton Deane or Somerset as a whole enjoy having their local breweries, believing that they add to the character of the community and that there is something distinctive about them that helps to define our area. Indeed, people visiting on holiday from London, Birmingham or elsewhere in the country feel that having an opportunity to drink in a pub in my constituency a pint of beer that has been brewed in Wiveliscombe or somewhere else in Somerset is part of their enjoyment as a visitor to the county. It would be extremely sad if that were to be affected. As I said, I accept that people can choose soft drinks, wine or something else instead of beer. I am not trying to compel people to drink beers brewed in breweries in my constituency, although I sometimes think that they would benefit from the experience. It may be that their life would be poorer if they missed that opportunity, but I am not compelling anyone to drink them. What I do not want, however, is businesses to be placed in jeopardy as a direct consequence of the Government's imposition of above-inflation duty increases on beer.