The States this morning accepted a Budget amendment from Deputy Patrick Ryan which will drive a packet of 20 past the £4 mark, but at the same time reduce the duty increases on alcohol.Finance and Economics said that they were neutral on the amendments because they had no impact on the overall figures.
What would be lost from alcohol would be made up by the hike in cigarette duty.
Deputy Ryan’s amendments, which were approved by 28 votes to 19, will have the following effect:Reduce increase on duty on litre of spirits from 40 to 26.9p.Reduce increase on duty on a bottle of wine from 10p to 3.2p.Reduce increase on duty on a pint of beer from 4p to 0.8p and from 6p to 1p on strong beer.
Increase the rise on duty on cigarettes from 25p to 44.5p.Deputy Ryan told the House that until it debated the alcohol strategy it was wrong to raise prices significantly.He also said that drink prices were more significant to tourism than the price of cigarettes.
