Miles Beale, CEO of the Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) tells Lucy Britner what he believes will be the big issues facing the trade in 2025
END OF EASEMENT
“We didn’t get anything out of the budget. Keeping the wine [duty easement] band would have been very beneficial for small businesses in particular. The Office for Budget Responsibility provides forecasting that tells ministers that consumption, after a blip, will grow again. I think, as anyone in the drinks industry knows, that is not true and hasn’t been true for a very long time. Of course, when they say consumption, they’re really thinking about tax receipts – we don’t think tax receipts are going to be going up. I think they’re going to be going down, especially now they’ve got rid of the wine easement and increased duty at the same time. The first Budget has turned out to be pretty hard work for any business. But in better news, at least we now know where we are.”
TAX AND EPR
“I think green taxes and health taxes are on the way, and the truth is, if we club together as an industry, we are a single voice speaking to the same set of priorities in the same way and we can make ourselves heard. With extended producer responsibility, the most important thing is that we encourage government to listen to us because, particularly for glass, we are the industry best placed to describe something that would work. Defra’s latest estimate for EPR fees for glass of £240 per tonne has come as an unwelcome shock for wine and spirit businesses across the UK, being substantially higher than the mid-point of previous estimates. Nor will it reassure WSTA members that the EPR scheme is in any way ready to be introduced in less than 3 months’ time. At the moment, it’s saying it starts in April, and it’s based on data from the year before, with payment taken in October. The difficulty is, how do you prepare a business for that when you don’t know what the cost will be? The plea to government, or perhaps even the demand, would be: listen to us, work with us. We have a distinct interest in making this scheme as efficient as possible.”
TRUMP AND HEALTH
“The other two things we are watching out for is the second Trump administration and the health lobby. We know what Trump’s playbook is – it will involve tariffs and it is likely alcoholic drinks will be on the receiving end of retaliatory tariffs. We’re encouraging the UK government to engage in that discussion proactively. Turning to the health lobby, I think the main challenge the government will identify is obesity. The question is what is expected of the drinks trade as distinct from high fat, sugar, salt content – all that stuff. It’s a joint effort. Low and no-alcohol innovation is interesting, as well as consumer information and education.”
For more expert opinions from the trade, check out the January/February 2025 issue of Drinks Retailing, out in digital form on January 16.
