An increase in alcohol duty at the Autumn Statement will be a hike on small businesses like ours - Chris Jaume

My team and I have done all the right things. We just want to get on with the job, but every time the Chancellor stands up, it feels like he’s making it harder for us.

Time after time, it feels like the decision makers in Westminster just don’t get what it takes to run a small business. We sell our product to bars, restaurants and pubs – parts of the hospitality industry that are still recovering from the pandemic.

And what’s the Chancellor done to help our industry this year? He hiked the duty that you pay on our products by over 10 per cent.

This is the biggest jump since the 1980s, during a cost-of-living crisis where people are feeling their wallets getting squeezed.

But in other countries, they don’t treat their best exports like we do in the UK. In France, they look after their champagne producers.

In Italy, they certainly don’t tax the prosecco or grappa makers like we do here. So, why then does our Chancellor send the tax man knocking on the door of British gin makers up and down the country?

In Britain, 80 per cent of a bottle of gin is tax. People can’t quite believe it when I tell them. We can’t take yet another tax hike, never mind one announced a month before Christmas.

If the Chancellor raises taxes on spirits again it will be the second time in six months.

The tax system on our iconic products is ludicrous – you can now buy a bottle of the stuff cheaper in France or Spain than you can here in Britain where it’s made.

The government promised to do all it could to bring down inflation, but alcohol duties have actually delivered the opposite and pushed prices up.

Businesses like mine are hurting because it costs us twice as much as it did a few years ago just to stand still.

And the biggest insult to us? The government’s gimmicky ‘Brexit Pubs Guarantee’ – a policy which they promised would cut prices at the pub yet has seen the cost of most drinks go up.

It feels like the Prime Minister and the Chancellor have, once again, put chasing headlines above supporting businesses like mine.

Any increase in duty at the Autumn Statement will be seen for what it is – a hike on small businesses like mine trying to earn a living and create jobs.

Today, the Chancellor will stand up and say he’s on our side. He’ll heap praise on us for creating jobs and investing in our communities.

But the votes of small businesses like mine and the people who work in them must be earnt, and actions speak louder than words.

We are crying out for the Chancellor to stand with us, support our sector and help us thrive. We won’t be bought off with more headline-chasing gimmicks.

Chris Jaume is co-founder of Cooper King Distillery in Sutton-on-the-Forest, North Yorkshire.