Spring Budget 2017 – Cigarettes go up 35p a pack and the price of a pint of beer will increase by 2p on Monday

A PACKET of 20 cigarettes now costs 35p more with the price of a pint increasing by 2p on Monday.

Chancellor Philip Hammond announced that duty on alcohol would rise in line with inflation during  the Spring Budget speech - the first rise in five years.

He also announced that duty on tobacco products will increase by two per cent above inflation from 6pm on March 8.

The news is even worse for rollie smokers with the price of a 30g pack of rolling tobacco went up by 44p.

The Chancellor's move will hike the price of a bottle of still wine up by 8p, a bottle of sparkling wine by 10p, a litre bottle of vodka up by 40p and a litre bottle of gin by 43p, according to the Wine and Spirit Trade Association.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) chairman Colin Valentine said: “UK beer drinkers, pubs and brewers have been let down by the Chancellor’s decision to increase beer duty for the first time in five years.

“The announced two penny a pint increase marks a return to the days when the much-hated Beer Duty Escalator contributed to 75,000 job losses, 3,700 pub closures and a 24 per cent fall in beer sales in pubs. The rise in beer duty will ultimately hit consumers in their pockets and lead to pub closures across the country."

The Wine and Spirit Trade Association said today was the first time in 25 years a Chancellor has increased all alcoholic products by inflation.

The association's chief executive Miles Beale said: “It is disappointing that the Chancellor has failed to support a great British industry.

"He has increased what were already excessive and unfairly high rates of duty for the UK’s wine and spirit consumers and businesses."

However there was some good news for pubs in the budget.

After concerns that business rate hikes would see local boozers closing their doors the Chancellor announced that 90 per cent of pubs would be given a £1,000 discount, to a round of applause.

More than 15,000 English boozers faced an average rate rise of 19 per cent under the first re-evaluation of the hated levy in seven years.

The Spring Budget was Chancellor Philip Hammond's first. It included all his spending plans as well as tax hikes and cuts in a speech to the House of Commons.

It's the last time that the Budget will be delivered in the Spring.

In November, Hammond announced that the Autumn Statement would be scrapped with the main Budget switched to the autumn from 2017.