Weatherspoons says the price of a pint could rise as £60m is added to Reeves’ budget

His comments followed warnings from brewers and pubs about the inflationary impact of the Budget, which saw duty on alcohol rise in line with inflation, with the exception of draft drinks, which were cut by 1.75%.

Tim Dewey, chief executive of Yorkshire brewer Timothy Taylor’s, said earlier this week that increases in pension contributions and the living wage would effectively cancel out any benefit to pub customers from cutting back on draft beer.

“There’s no doubt that the beer duty cut doesn’t really make a difference compared to the price pressure that (Ms Reeves) is putting on the pub industry,” he told The Telegraph.

It comes after JD Wetherspoon reported like-for-like sales up 5.9% in the 14 weeks to 3 November. Bar and food sales were up 5.7%, while slot machine sales were up 13.5%. However, hotel room sales fell 2%.

Shares in the pub chain rose more than 2% after markets opened on Wednesday.

Sir Tim said the company was “confident of reasonable results for the year” but warned it would be more difficult to forecast results given rising costs due to the Budget.

Bosses were angered by plans to increase NI contributions by 1.2 percentage points to 15% from April next year, while reducing the level at which they will start paying it. The government has said the changes are needed to help plug an estimated £40 billion “black hole” in the economy.

UKHospitality, which represents pubs, restaurants and cafes – a sector known for its reliance on younger, part-time staff – has warned that the changes could see tax bills rise by £1 billion.