Up to 60,000 jobs - numbering a tenth of the total brewery and bar workforce - could be lost across the industry if the Government increases duty on beer in the Budget on 22 April, according to the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA).

In the 2008 Budget the chancellor, Alistair Darling, announced the rate of duty on beer would rise by 2% above inflation each year from 2009 to 2011.

But David Long, chief executive of the BBPA, said: "Pubs are closing at a record rate and one in 10 of the 600,000 people employed in the sector are set to lose their jobs as a result of the worst trading conditions anyone can remember.

"This dire situation is driven by many factors, but the Government is adding to the misery through punitive increases in tax and legislation.

"Pubs play a vital economic and social role in all parts of the UK, and yet the industry was excluded from the VAT cut in November, is being burdened by more and more regulation and now faces further tax increases. The results will be to write off thousands more pubs and tens of thousands more jobs."