BEER WE GO AGAIN; But scrappage will aid auto sector, says business.

Byline: NEIL HODGSON 

CHANCELLOR Alistair Darling targeted old favourites booze and fags in a desperate bid to balance Britain's books. Last month brewers added 10p to a pint. And yesterday Mr Darling - banned from pubs by most brewery chains for his hikes to beer duty - added to their woes. His 2% above inflation rise could mean an extra 5p-10p on a pint. Licensee at Liverpool's Thomas Rigby pub Fiona Watkin said: "This was supposed to be a budget for jobs.

But there are 30 pubs a week shutting and by putting the price of beer up, more pubs will shut and more jobs will go." And for anyone who enjoys a cigarette with their drink they will have to fork out an extra 7p a packet as the Chancellor dips deeper into their pockets. But business leaders welcomed the Chancellor's boost for the car industry. His Budget measure offers pounds 2,000 to drivers towards the cost of a new car or van if they scrap their old vehicles.

The recession has seen demand for new cars slump to catastrophic levels with job losses and short time working at both Halewood's Jaguar Land Rover plant and the Vauxhall site in Ellesmere Port . A December campaign by the Liverpool ECHO, sister paper the Daily Post and our Midlands publications covering JLR's sister sites there called for government moves to stimulate the market. And the scrappage scheme is seen as welcome aid for an industry teetering on the cusp of disaster.

Tony Woodley, Merseyside-born joint general secretary of Unite the Union who fought to save Halewood in 1997, added: "Any scheme to stimulate demand for cars is welcome - the UK cannot afford to lose the workers who build them." A JLR spokeswoman welcomed the move, but feared it may only stimulate sales at the lower end of the market.

Overall, the Chancellor's Budget failed to win universal approval from business. Liverpool Chamber of Commerce director Brian McCann, boss of Liverpool-based Vanguard Corporate Finance, described it as "mixed." He added: "The Green sector was a major feature and we have a good number of local businesses working in that field, so the investment programmes should help. "Investment in creative industries and biotech is also good news for Liverpool." He welcomed the improvement in loss relief for loss-making companies: "That is significantly good news for business." And he applauded aid for staff training, but added: "We would liked to have seen some help for businesses trying to avoid redundancies through short-term working."

CAPTION(S):

BUDGET WOES: Chancellor Alistair Darling has his tax-raising eyes on spending on cigarettes, booze and fuel