MP Caroline raises a glass to the Gosport ‘locals’

GOSPORT MP Caroline Dinenage has pledged her support for the ‘Long Live the Local’ campaign to help pubs and breweries in the  constituency recover and thrive.

Her backing joins over 125,000 people across the country who have signed the petition so far, including 226 in Gosport alone.

The average UK pub generates £100,000 in economic benefit for its local community each year.  Yet the Covid-19 pandemic has had a devastating impact on brewers and pubs across the country and continues to do so as the sector tries to kickstart its recovery.

With £1 in every £3 spent in pubs going towards taxes levied by the government of the day – since 2010, that’s been Caroline’s Tory party – its support in the form of lower VAT, Business Rates and an overall cut to beer duty can help locals and the communities they serve recover.

This support would also boost Britain’s world class brewing sector, a homegrown manufacturing success story that brews over 80 percent of the beer we drink.  There are two real ale breweries in the Gosport constituency – Fallen Acorn and newcomer Powder Monkey, housed in the former Priddy’s Hard munitions store – that would benefit.

Caroline said: “Breweries and pubs in the Gosport constituency not only offer important social hubs, they support 1,065 jobs and contribute £27 million to the local economy. But they need our help too. That’s why Long Live the Local is calling on the Government to lower VAT and Business Rates for pubs and an overall reduction in Beer Duty.”

And Emma McClarkin, chief rxecutive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said: “Eighty-five percent of pubs are based in community and rural areas, bringing jobs to the parts of the UK that need them most. They employ over 600,000 people, of which 43 percent are under 25.

“Cutting Business Rates, VAT and an overall reduction in Beer Duty would go a long way to helping pubs and brewers across Gosport that are desperately trying to recover. We are very grateful to Caroline Dinenage for her support for the Long Live the Local campaign, and hope that the government listens to MPs across Parliament and the thousands of people across the country who are calling on the Chancellor to lower VAT and Business Rates for pubs and reduce Beer Duty overall.”

PICTURED:  Caroline Dinenage, right, promoting the Long Live the Local campaign with Emma McClarkin, of the British Beer and Pub Association