Bringing down beer duty: securing the only tax cut in Labour’s first Budget

The British Beer and Pub Association asked us to help convince the Treasury to freeze draught beer duty rates. We developed an integrated media and public affairs campaign around one core message: that pints and pubs mean more to people, and have a greater social and cultural value, than the tax regime recognised. We set out to persuade decisionmakers that the price of a pint could be a vehicle for political change that would be felt by voters, communities and small businesses – especially during a cost of living crisis. Over the course of ten months, we engineered campaign moments around the BBPA’s manifesto launch, the 200th anniversary of the pint as a standard measure, UEFA Euro 2024 and the General Election. These moments provided the opportunity for creative activations that made the UK’s globally high rates of beer duty vivid to our stakeholders and facilitated targeted engagement between pub landlords and Parliamentary candidates in new electoral wards. We also made a representation to the Treasury which showed the pub to be a regional economic multiplier and secured close to 200 pieces of coverage across print, online and broadcast platforms – including over 160 stories in national media outlets. Through these efforts, we were able to exceed our objectives, delivering the only tax cut of Rachel Reeves’ first budget in a 1.7 per cent reduction of draught beer duty and saving the industry as much as £100m a year.