A British Liberal Democrat MP and high-profile campaigner for the maintenance of a thriving local pubs sector, has told an Oireachtas committee that a cut in beer excise duty would create jobs and stimulate investment.

Greg Mulholland was accompanied to the hearing of the Oireachtas Jobs Committee by Pádraig Cribben, the chief executive of the Vintners Federation of Ireland, the lobby group for rural pubs. He also spoke at an event hosted by the Support Your Local campaign, which is funded by the drinks industry and includes VFI among its members.

Mr Mulholland told the committee that excise increases in the UK following the 2008 financial crisis damaged the brewing and pub industries. The “beer escalator”, as it was known, was later abolished and excise on beer has been cut three times in Britain since, he said.

There was “clear evidence” that beer duty cuts increased investment and employment. Mr Mulholland maintained that industry research has shown that since beer excise was cut in the UK, 26,000 jobs were created and an extra £61 million of investment was made in 2014, over and above what would have been made had excise not been cut. “It lowered the price of a pint by 16p, which resulted in 750 million more pints being sold,” he said.

The Support Your Local campaign has campaigned heavily since last year for a cut in excise. It welcomed Mr Mulholland’s comments in a statement last night.

In his committee address, Mr Mulholland also strongly criticised large supermarket chains for below-cost selling of alcohol and taking business away from local pubs.