The demise of the British pub trade as a whole was dealt a further life threatening move from this Government. English pubs are suffering already with the smoking ban and the economic problems the country faces on top. We have suffered the smoking ban longer in Scotland and I can assure you it gets worse.
Scottish pubs each face a bill this year of £5000 to come under our new licensing Act. Perhaps my theory that the government is happy to drive people from pubs to their pals in the supermarkets is right.
The nation will become the cliché of the Russian drinker, people buying litres of vodka, getting drunk by themselves and not having the social environment of the pub.
How can he threaten supermarkets over plastic bags and not over below, or at, cost selling of alcohol which is also having an effect on the environment.
The government is already getting diminishing returns on previous beer increases (a classic economic model) and yet is stupid enough to espouse the line that this is for the kids. the kids high strength drinks through supermarkets came of the lightest. Darling your just Browns lamb with no thoughts of your own.
The barometer of financial worry, The Footsie, has even been damaged with the impact of Darling/Browns out of touch budget. Wetherspoon’s already hit by the smoking ban saw a double digit percentage drop in profits. Today I see their share price dropped 3.8% thanks to Darling Brown’s stewardship of this country.
Even Bush has come out with attempts to stimulate the economy but our switched on guys have decided to stick the boot in instead. Business has long known that this Labour government is out of touch and this budget just proves it.

MICHAEL A MCHUGH, GLASGOW, uk