POLITICIANS don’t need much convincing to visit Scotch whisky distilleries. In recent years, it has seemed no visit to Scotland by a senior figure from the Conservative Government has been complete without a visit to one of Scotland’s hallowed still rooms.

Yet, while Boris Johnson and Liz Truss (and lest we forget the Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross) are more than happy to be pictured nursing a dram, leading figures within government can’t always be counted on to do the right thing for this important industry.

The UK Government’s pursuit of a hard Brexit alone has proven to be particularly costly. Withdrawing from the single market and customs union has made it significantly more expensive and bureaucratic for distillers to export their wares to countries within the European Union, resulting in some cases in companies investing in satellite operations on the continent to smooth out the new glitches to trading with the continent.

It is to the credit of the whisky industry that it has been able to again demonstrate the resilience it has become known for over the decades by finding a way to work through this unnecessary complication.

The latest curve ball came on Monday when new Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt announced that the planned freeze on alcohol duty was being scrapped. It came as he dumped just about every part of Prime Minister Liz Truss’s catastrophic mini-Budget in the bin.

While the markets were calmed to some extent by Mr Hunt’s statement – albeit it must be stressed that the fall-out from the mini-Budget will be felt by households and firms for years to come – the decision on duty was met with understandable fury from the Scotch whisky industry. And not least because the planned freeze had been announced just three weeks previously, when former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng announced the now-discredited Growth Plan.

Mark Kent, chief executive of the Scotch Whisky Association, said the abrupt U-turn had stripped away the “certainty and stability” that business craves and would undermine the industry’s ability to invest and create jobs.

“With the average priced bottle of Scotch whisky already taxed at 70 per cent, a double-digit rise in spirits duty will now seriously reduce the industry’s ability to support the UK economy through investment, job creation and rising revenue to the Treasury,” he said. “It will add pressures in the UK hospitality industry and household budgets as costs inevitably increase.

“Distillers are facing increasing economic headwinds and rising costs, [but] the duty freeze offered much needed support. We urgently need that commitment to be reinstated.”

This was an extremely strong reaction, and it should not be dismissed by those in government. Anyone who needs reminded of the power of the industry to create wealth need only to look at Diageo’s huge investment in the Johnnie Walker Experience, a major new hospitality and tourism attraction, on Edinburgh’s Princes Street. And just this week Gordon & MacPhail, the Elgin-based distiller, blender and wholesaler, threw open the doors at its newest distillery, The Cairn, on Speyside following a huge investment over several years. The company hopes the distillery will be visited by dram fans from all over the world, giving enthusiasts another reason to visit the area on holiday.

These are but two examples of the scores of investments that the industry has made in recent years that have created jobs, often in rural areas, and generated revenue for local communities.

But the threat to investment is not the only reason why the alcohol duty freeze will be damaging. Mr Kent also pointed out that duty freezes have historically increased revenue for government, “contrary to what the Treasury’s forecasts have predicted”.

He was backed up on this point by Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine & Spirit Trade Association, who tweeted: “It’s not as simple as suggesting £600m accrues to @hmtreasury… History has shown that freezing alcohol duty does not have a negative impact on Treasury coffers.”

Mr Hunt has since said he will “look again” at the decision, following an intervention from Alistair Carmichael, the Liberal Democrat MP for Orkney and Shetland, which is welcome. But there is no time to waste.

For just as the SWA warns that an increase in duty would undermine the Scotch whisky industry’s capacity to invest, create jobs, and drive revenue for the Treasury, a hike in alcohol duty will heap even more pressures on to hospitality operators that are struggling to survive.

Pubs, hotels and restaurants have for months been wrestling with a barrage of cost increases. While this has been felt most acutely on energy, the rises have been seen right across the board, with food, drink, labour and now, thanks to rising interest rates, loans becoming more expensive.

The rise in the cost of doing business has been so steep that hundreds of operators are now trading at reduced capacity. Many based in rural areas are even mulling whether it is viable to trade through the winter; some have already pulled down the shutters for the rest of the year.

Those that remain open face difficult decisions over how to price their goods. How much of this extra cost can they pass on to consumers facing rampant inflation without deterring them from coming in?

Such decisions would have been difficult enough before the duty freeze was scrapped. Indeed, many will have already put their prices up this year, following increases put through to the trade by suppliers.

Now, thanks to the storm created by the U-turn, further expense is coming down the line. It would certainly be a brave move by a publican to put up the price of a pint or glass of wine even further when their customers are so worried about paying for their mortgage and heating their homes.

Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer & Pub Association, summed up the impact of the duty freeze U-turn when she tweeted: “The Chancellor’s decision to reverse the alcohol duty freeze is a huge blow to brewers and pubs. The freeze would have delivered a £300m saving to our industry at a critical time when we desperately need any relief to help us survive and recover.”

As Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, noted, it is not just the cost dimension to this that is worrying. It is the impact on the ability of businesses to plan and, crucially, retain jobs.

The new Chancellor may have soothed the financial markets to some degree with his reversal of the disastrous Truss mini-Budget, but the damage to the economy is only just beginning.