The Chancellor of the Exchequer will present her autumn budget on 26 November, which happens to be the same day on which this edition is published. I commented on CAMRA’s hopes for the budget in the previous edition and will report on its contents in the next one, by which time, hopefully, all will be clear. As a pointer however, this is what Tonia Antoniazzi, the Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Beer Group, was hoping that the Chancellor would do: (1) reform national insurance contributions and cut beer duty and VAT, (2) deliver meaningful business rates reform and (3) align the definition of alcohol-free with European norms.
Readers may have seen the message from CAMRA’s chairman, Ash Corbett-Collins, that, for financial reasons, next year’s Great British Beer Festival and GBBF Winter have been cancelled and that there will a general review of the Campaign’s finances. I would like to assure readers that, as can be seen from the Branch Diaries column, there will be no reduction in activity at branch level. Likewise, CAMRA’s local beer festivals in Greater London (Bexley, Dulwich, Ealing, Kingston, Thurrock, Pig’s Ear and the Cider & Perry Festival) were successful and will continue so long as circumstances allow. This magazine is self-funding, thanks to our valued advertisers, and is under no threat. CAMRA is essentially a grass roots organisation and that is where our strength lies.
Tony Hedger