Since 2008, 2% above the rate of inflation has been added to alcohol duty every year, and had the Chancellor gone ahead with the planned rise 5% would have been automatically added to the price drinkers already pay.

In a surprise move, he announced that the increasing escalator on beer would be stopped completely and that he’d also be cutting the existing duty by 1p.

But for those whose drink of choice isn’t beer, then the Chancellor had bad news announcing that the alcohol duty escalator would still apply to everything except beer.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA), a long-standing campaigner against beer tax, said today marked a step change for the way the pub industry is viewed by the Government.

Chief Executive Brigid Simmonds said: “This is absolutely brilliant news, and it will make George Osborne the toast of Britain’s pubs today. By cutting the tax on beer, he has moved to boost jobs in Britain’s pubs at a time when it is most needed.

“In also abolishing the Beer Tax escalator, the Chancellor has ended a hugely damaging policy that would have made Britain’s’ beer the most heavily taxed in Europe.

Simmonds added that many jobs will be now be created in “this brilliant industry” and she thanked “the hundreds of thousands of people who have supported this campaign”.

Mike Benner, chief executive of CAMRA, echoed the BBPA views: “Scrapping the beer duty escalator, combined with a 1p cut, is a massive vote of confidence in British pubs and will lead to an increase in pub-going and more money in the Chancellor’s coffers.”

But the Wine Spirit and Trade Association was furious with the announcement condemning the Chancellor for “pushing ahead with inflation busting alcohol tax rises on wines and spirits for the fifth year in a row”.

The escalator will add another 10p to a bottle of wine and 53p to a litre bottle of spirits after the 5.3% rise announced today.

Wine and Spirit Trade Association chief executive Miles Beale said that if today’s news was designed to support Britain’s pubs then the Chancellor got things wrong.

Beale said: “This is bad news for the UK wine and spirits sector, with year-on-year duty increases hitting consumers and businesses hard. It makes little sense to single out beer, particularly as there is a legal precedent to suggest Government is unable to do so.

"If this was designed as a measure to support pubs it seems misplaced: over 41% of drinks sold in pubs are wine and spirits, contributing £9.4 billion per year. The Chancellor’s decision ignores the growing value of the English wine industry and the UK spirits industry, which accounts for 18% of all jobs in the EU spirits industry.”