Tuesday 5 May 2009

Beer Tax Petitions


I was quite saddened to see the paucity of signatories to these petitions on number10.gov.uk

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Reduce taxation on Alcoholic draught beers sold and consumed on Licensed premises. Submitted by albert humphreys of licensed trade – Deadline to sign up by: 24 January 2010 – Signatures: 384"

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to axe the beer tax. Submitted by rachael rogerson of south elmsall united services club – Deadline to sign up by: 14 August 2009 – Signatures: 19"

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to REDUCE BEER DUTY TO THE DUTY LEVEL OF MARCH 1ST 2008. Submitted by KIERON BARTON of CHILLI MARKETING – Deadline to sign up by: 16 June 2009 – Signatures: 34"

I suspect that almost all petitions on the Number 10 site are ignored and they offer only a slight letting-off of steam rather than a being a genuinely useful method of influencing the government. The three I've listed above look pretty amateurish. Perhaps an internet blogger has the time and inclination to create a well written and informative petition that we could all publicise? Perhaps we bloggers should temporarily put down our swords about issues like sparklers and the merits (or otherwise) of CAMRA and use our powers of rhetoric for something useful.

Comments please.





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