logo
Blow for British pubs as they're being hit with highest ‘bevvy levy' in Europe

Blow for British pubs as they're being hit with highest ‘bevvy levy' in Europe

Scottish Sun30-04-2025

UK glass recycling charges of £240 per ton are much higher than anywhere else in Europe
'OWN GOAL' Blow for British pubs as they're being hit with highest 'bevvy levy' in Europe
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
PUBS are being hit with the highest 'bevvy levy' in Europe.
New recycling taxes on glass and aluminium, which will cost the industry £1.6billion a year, have been branded a massive 'own goal' by hospitality chiefs.
Sign up for Scottish Sun
newsletter
Sign up
2
British Beer and Pub Association boss Emma McClarkin says: 'Brewers will be seriously disadvantaged by this bevvy levy'
From today, firms that put more than 25 tons of packaging a year on to the market have to pay EPR (extended producer responsibility) fees for recycling.
UK glass recycling charges of £240 per ton are much higher than anywhere else in Europe — adding 12p to a bottle of wine and 6p to a bottle of beer.
Poland pays £110, beer-loving Germany £85, and Greece £17.
But environment chiefs have estimated EPR is unlikely to impact rates of recycling in the next five years.
British Beer and Pub Association boss Emma McClarkin said: 'Brewers will be seriously disadvantaged by this bevvy levy, which is unfair, poorly rolled out, and detached from reality.
"The costs are a spectacular own goal. They'll choke investment, cost jobs and stifle growth.
'The government must urgently rethink these ridiculous fees if they want our beloved pubs and breweries to survive and thrive.'
A government spokesman said: 'We will crack down on waste and boost recycling, with EPR for packaging a vital first step.'
2
Pubs are being hit with the highest 'bevvy levy' in Europe
Credit: Getty

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

OnlyFans is giving HMRC what it wants
OnlyFans is giving HMRC what it wants

Spectator

time4 hours ago

  • Spectator

OnlyFans is giving HMRC what it wants

Fenix International occupies the ninth floor of an innocuous office block on London's Cheapside. The street's name comes from the Old English for marketplace, and once upon a time Cheapside was just that: London's biggest meat market with butcher shops lining either side of the road. Today, the street houses financial institutions and corporate HQs. But Fenix still runs a marketplace. Some may even call it a meat market, albeit one that operates on the phones of hundreds of millions of users worldwide. Its name: OnlyFans. OnlyFans is best understood not just as a porn site, but as a social media platform with a paywall. Creators – mostly women – post photos, videos and voice notes behind monthly subscriptions. Users pay extra to tip the women, customise content and have one-to-one chats with their favourite models. Not everything on OnlyFans is X-rated, but that's the content that makes the money. An entire ecosystem has grown around OnlyFans since it was founded nine years ago by two British brothers, Tim and Thomas Stokely. One 'e-pimp' explained that successful models outsource much of their work to offshore call centres to give the illusion of intimacy with customers. Low-paid workers in Venezuela or the Philippines are hired to impersonate creators over text chats, maintaining dozens, even hundreds, of relationships with lonely men. OnlyFans' profits are enormous. In 2023, it generated nearly £5 billion in sales – up more than 2,000 per cent in four years. The company paid £127 million in tax last year, £110 million of that in corporation tax. Because Fenix is based in London, the bulk of that cash is flowing straight into the Treasury. For comparison: Britain's fishing industry – supposedly a red-line issue in Brexit – brings in just £876 million and pays next to nothing in corporation tax, while also receiving £180 million a year in tax concessions. We don't think of OnlyFans as a media company (if we think of it at all) and so we ignore what it is in business terms: a staggering success. With more than four million 'content creators' and 305 million subscribers, it would easily rank in the top three British publishing companies. It is perhaps the most successful creator-based subscription service ever. Traditional platforms can't compete – OnlyFans' revenues are twice that of North America's Aylo, which operates the world's biggest porn websites. Britain's sex industry brings in far more to the economy than politicians are comfortable admitting Britain's sex industry brings in far more to the economy than politicians are comfortable admitting. The Office for National Statistics estimates Britons spend in excess of £6 billion annually on it. It is one of the few British industries which remains a net (digital) exporter. Indeed, OnlyFans is perhaps the strongest unicorn (a privately held start-up worth more than $1 billion) in the country. It's more profitable than any other British tech start-up. And it's doing something our other digital start-ups can't: exporting to America while keeping tax revenues onshore. Two-thirds of its revenue now comes from the US, proving that even in a global tech economy dominated by Silicon Valley, British firms can still compete. OnlyFans' success makes it all the more striking that, according to Reuters, Fenix is in talks to sell. Los Angeles-based Forest Road Company is leading a group of investors in negotiations to buy the business for £6 billion. It's rumoured that other suitors are vying for attention and that shares may be sold on the stock market. Either way, one of Britain's few successful exports could soon be gone. It's awkward to defend pornography, and so politicians don't try. Parliament hosts thousands of lobbying events every year – payday lenders, bookies, vape companies, even arms dealers turn up for drinks and canapés. There is no 'sex tech reception'. Ministers fall over themselves to visit impressive-looking factories that are in fact barely relevant. For example, Glass Futures, a research and production plant for the glass industry based in St Helens, was recently picked by Keir Starmer as the perfect location for his speech decrying 'Farage's fantasy economics'. The plant is a not-for-profit that makes £7 million in annual sales. OnlyFans pays more in tax in a month than Glass Futures earns in a year. But no MP would be caught dead at OnlyFans' Cheapside HQ, despite, I'm told, many invitations to visit. Neither has any politician ever defended the porn industry in a debate on innovation, exports or growth. The most recent House of Lords research note on 'the impact of pornography on society' contains no mention of the words 'economy', 'tax' or 'finance'. Of course, money isn't everything. The harms of porn – to women, to relationships, to the minds of teenage boys – are real and considerable. We might well be better off banning the whole thing. But if we are going to wage a moral war on porn, we should at least be honest about what we're sacrificing. The money is real – and it's already in the bank of HMRC.

Shoppers warned about quick online payment option that could end up costing you £1,000s
Shoppers warned about quick online payment option that could end up costing you £1,000s

Scottish Sun

time4 hours ago

  • Scottish Sun

Shoppers warned about quick online payment option that could end up costing you £1,000s

Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) A WARNING has been issued to shoppers over a quick payment option that can cost £1,000s. Which? is urging caution over use of the "pay by bank" feature which lacks key consumer protection. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 Which? has issued a warning over the "pay by bank" payment feature Credit: Getty The payment feature lets shoppers pay for products without the need to enter bank details or use a card. It is used by popular online retailers such as WHSmith, Just Eat, Funky Pigeon and Ryanair. You can also use it to settle credit card balances or pay bills. However, Which? has raised concerns people may be unaware it can leave them unprotected if something goes wrong with a purchase. The option lacks Section 75 and chargeback protections that shoppers get when paying through other methods. Under Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act, a credit card company can be held jointly liable for a purchase that turns out to be shoddy or does not materialise. This means a shopper can potentially get a refund from the credit card company if they cannot recover their costs from a retailer. Those using a debit card or credit card for purchases can also potentially get their money back via the chargeback scheme. Which? said pay by bank is a "potential game changer" for businesses as they can sidestep card transaction fees and also benefit from receiving customer funds immediately. There is also appeal for shoppers as refunds can be processed instantly. Shopping discounts - How to make savings and find the best bargains While card details are not shared when making a transaction – eliminating the risk of them being stolen or compromised. People do have general purchase rights under the Consumer Rights Act, meaning that goods must be fit for purpose, as described and of satisfactory quality. But Which? said these protections are not always easy to enforce and in some cases may end up with people needing to go to a small claims court. People may also face difficulties in the event of a business going bust. This could particularly be the case if there is an issue with a future-dated purchase such as a flight, a festival, or a household big ticket purchase such as a kitchen or a sofa. Jenny Ross, Which? money editor, said: 'Innovations like pay by bank present opportunities for businesses and consumers alike, but they're not without risk, particularly as they lack the rigorous purchase protections you get when paying by card. 'We're calling on the regulator to act to ensure consumers can use pay by bank with confidence, but in the meantime, we'd urge consumers to think carefully before using it to book events or make substantial purchases – for now, your good old-fashioned credit or debit card may be the best option.' A spokesperson for banking and finance industry body UK Finance said: 'There are a range of options for making payments online which provides customers with choice as to how they wish to pay. "Different payment methods do come with different levels of protection and it's worth being aware of these when shopping online, particularly when making higher value purchases." What is Section 75 protection? Section 75 protection offers you consumer protection on credit card purchases worth between £100 and £30,000. It applies to any products or services you've bought that end up being faulty, broken, or were not delivered at all. It also covers you in the case a retailer you've bought from goes bust. Section 75 applies to goods bought online, over the phone or via mail order. You aren't covered by Section 75 if you bought anything with a debit card, but may be under chargeback. To make a claim under Section 75, you need to contact your credit card provider. It should then send you a claim form which you can fill in and your provider will use to process your application. Your card firm might ask you to provide evidence such as a receipt or a report verifying that the item is faulty. In the scenario where a retailer has not gone bust, you should complain to them first. If you find that your card company has been unhelpful and refused your claim, you can take your case to the Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS). Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@ Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories

The treaty Gibraltar wants, for the future we all need
The treaty Gibraltar wants, for the future we all need

Telegraph

time6 hours ago

  • Telegraph

The treaty Gibraltar wants, for the future we all need

For over five years, Gibraltar has been at the centre of one of the most complex, technical, and geopolitically sensitive negotiations undertaken by the United Kingdom and the European Union since Brexit. The process has consumed me. It has occupied close to half of my time in elected office, taken over almost every waking hour of the last five years, and, in truth, deprived the people of Gibraltar of their Chief Minister in the way they are used to having him, that is, from fixing housing and parking complaints to defending their sovereignty in the international arena. For much longer than I would have wanted, I have been behind closed doors, in physical or virtual boardrooms, working through the details of a document that will shape the next generation of our people. It has been a relentless, exhausting endeavour. Throughout this time, the UK and Gibraltar teams have worked together seamlessly, 'hand in glove', without a flash of daylight between us. We have worked in close partnership with both Conservative and Labour prime ministers and foreign secretaries; from Dominic Raab, Liz Truss and James Cleverly to David Cameron and now David Lammy. What we have negotiated is not the product of fragmented agendas, but the position of a unified British family determined to find a solution worthy of our people. Without a treaty, Gibraltar could be staring down the barrel of a hard border, marked by endless queues, disrupted supply chains, and a deeply uncertain future for many of our businesses. Our hospitals and elderly care homes would face chronic understaffing, and the surrounding region would suffer the almost certain loss of employment for many of the 15,000 cross-border workers who depend on Gibraltar's economy to support their families. The services we deliver to our people would all come under strain. Our public finances would be pushed to the brink. The self-governing Gibraltar we have built would be diminished, replaced by something poorer, more isolated, more inward-looking, and ultimately less able to thrive as a proud, British European Territory. Instead, we now stand at the threshold of something remarkable, and not just for Gibraltar, but also for the United Kingdom, for Spain, and for Europe and our people. Something bold. Something forward looking and hopeful. Something that finally breaks free of the negative inertia that has defined too much of our recent past. Unlocking potential across borders This is politics at its most elevated. The service-led principle of working for our people's benefit and not the performative personal antagonism that too often infects public life. Real, hard graft that overcomes challenges to deliver progress. This is the kind of result our people demand when they voice distrust and decry the political 'establishment'. Our Spanish and EU counterparts, for their part, have brought to the table a seriousness of purpose that also reflects the gravity of the moment. They, too, have recognised that this treaty is not merely about fluidity of movement, but about unlocking human and economic potential across borders. Make no mistake: the treaty that is now within reach is not one that the Gibraltarians have been forced to accept. Our people voted for us to have a mandate to turn our New Year's Eve agreement of 2020 into a UK/EU agreement/treaty. So we say 'yes' to this agreement, but not because we don't know how to say 'no' when we have to. We did so, emphatically, in 2002, when we triggered a referendum to reject Jack Straw's proposal of joint sovereignty with Spain, and I am just as adamant today that this treaty will not in any way compromise British sovereignty over Gibraltar. That will be set out, black upon white, in the treaty when it is published. It is a legal undertaking given by both sides in clear and unequivocal terms. So to be clear: in this treaty we have not ceded any control of Gibraltar to any authority. Just like today, only Gibraltar will decide who enters Gibraltar – exactly as we agreed in 2020 when Dominic Raab was foreign secretary and Boris Johnson was prime minister. This treaty unleashes the potential to usher in a new era. One in which we move beyond the tired narratives of the past on constant sovereignty disputes, towards a future defined by hope, cooperation and shared prosperity. It will pave the way for better jobs, more investment and lasting stability for Gibraltar and the wider region. It can deliver more harmonious human relations and a better quality of life for all our people. When you read it, I ask that you to look up from the pages of this treaty and see that better reality as it peers back at us from the future. This will be the treaty Gibraltar wants. It will be a treaty the UK and the EU can be proud of. And it will be a treaty that will propel us all to the better future politicians are elected to deliver. When the time comes, back Gibraltar and its proudly British people by backing the Gibraltar treaty.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store