Smokers and drinkers were hit in the pocket today as Chancellor Gordon Brown sought to balance the British Budget books.
In an Commons statement, he predicted a rapid economic bounce back with consumer spending set to pick up as the war in Iraq draws to a close.
But with £3 billion sterling being set aside for the costs of the military conflict, he announced increased duties on cigarettes, beer and wine.
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The Chancellor Gordon Brown bringing the Budget to the House of Commons.
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From Monday a packet of 20 cigarette will rise by 8 pence while beer drinkers will pay 1 pence a pint extra and a bottle of wine will go up by 4 pence. But duty on spirits, cider and sparkling wine was frozen.
Delivering his seventh Budget statement, the Chancellor said the UK economy would be well placed to capitalise on an expected global upturn.
He shaved half a point off his growth forecast for this year - now predicted to be 2 to 2.5 per cent - a more optimistic prediction than many City analysts had been forecasting.
He told MPs Britain was expected to outperform all the other major industrialised economies in the year ahead.
The Chancellor pledged to take every step to preserve and protect the security of the United Kingdom.
Presenting his first lunchtime Budget, Mr Brown told MPs he was setting aside an extra £330 million for additional domestic counter-terrorism measures.
Speaking against a backdrop of sweeping Allied advances in Iraq and jubilant crowds on the streets of Baghdad, he also paid tribute to the armed forces for their "zeal, bravery and resilience" in the conflict.
And he said the nation owed "a debt of gratitude to the strong leadership in a difficult time" of the Prime Minister.
The Government, he said, will contribute £240 million to the humanitarian work in Iraq to help with the reconstruction effort.
The Chancellor told MPs: "Britain - even in difficult world conditions - is able to meet our military and security costs abroad and at home and the costs of building peace, while maintaining in full our record investment in schools, hospitals, transport and policing."
Britain has experienced the longest period of sustained economic growth and growth in living standards for half a century, Mr Brown said.
The economy has grown uninterrupted in every quarter over the last six years, he added.