I thought that the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives were all about abolishing the nanny state, but today the Prime Minister is being urged to implement a minimum price for a unit of alcohol.
Boffins at the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) have suggested that hospital admissions could be reduced by 100,000 and that there would be 3,400 less alcohol related deaths by adding 50p on to a bottle of wine. All very nice, taxing the many to save the fruit loops and down-and-outs that are unable to control their boozing, but don’t forget this is the same NICE that regularly hangs seriously ill patients out to dry because it will not approve or pay for new drugs that might save them.
Be under no illusions: this hasn’t just been dreamt up by brown envelope-touting lobbyists. This is straight out of the Liberal Democrat manifesto so we should not be surprised about it at all.
In the next step to full control, it is being touted that alcohol advertising should be banned. And don’t think you can sneak off to France and buy loads of cheaper booze and bring it back. Oh no, the Liberal Democrats want to ban that as well.
The British Medical Association is recommending a minimum of 50p per unit of alcohol, which would push the price of a bottle of wine up to £4.50. I usually pay more than that anyway so what difference is it going to make?
According to Professor Mike Kelly adding a minimum price on booze will reduce hospital admissions by 100,000 and deaths by 3,400, but is this not the same argument as the age-old green taxes? We’re told we have to pay more for what we want in order to save the planet and are guilt tripped into supporting this kind of taxation, but it isn’t working and governments continue to demand more and more money for it.
You can argue a case for banning anything by referring to the number of deaths it would prevent, but do we actually want or need to be nannied in this way? People are fully aware of the risk of alcohol just as they are aware of the risks of driving a car. If we banned cars it would save 3,500 lives per year and prevent over 300,000 injuries.
The minimum price for a unit of alcohol isn’t going to save any lives, it’s just going to extract more cash from people going about their lifestyle. Prices will increase only slightly for the cheapest own-brand booze, and branded alcoholic products will remain similarly priced. Technically it will simply increase profits for supermarkets, but I can’t see this being allowed to happen. There will be a revenue for the government somewhere in this, and next they’ll put an escalator on it.
It is a pure, unadulterated stealth tax and nothing more. They’ve found something that a lot of people do and have found a new way to extract revenue from it. They also want to ban supermarkets from selling at less than cost price, but will they, I wonder, looked at supermarkets subsidising the fixed price or knocking money off other products if bought with booze?
As consumers how can anyone support minimum prices for booze? The effect on us is more legislation, and an increased cost of living for the poorest people.
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Surely with the TESCO executive heavily backing the minimum price being enforced they have a coroporate reasoning behind doing so? Whilst they can decrease the prices more than any other british retailer due to bulk-purchasing, I just cannot see why it is in their best interests to back the government up on this one..
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It will make no difference except probably raise cash for the government;pointless if you ask me.
“According to Professor Mike Kelly adding a minimum price on booze will reduce hospital admissions by 100,000″
How on earth can this guy predict the future,does he have the lotteries numbers, lol?
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As a virtual non-drinker I’m appalled at this (though my reason for rarely drinking is health grounds rather than a sanctimonious moral thing). I quite agree the nanny state has gone too far. I agree green tax type escalators would eventually be added. The NICE report writer suggested this minimum would increase cider from £2 a bottle to £7. How on earth would the English cider industry survive a rise in their product of 250%? Would our breweries survive? Or our pub industry? And what is this body’s suggestion for solving the obesity crisis? Perhaps a minimum price for food too? I strongly believe the reason alcohol consumption has risen is because of the lack of other activities to do. Honestly for a night out in Blackpool, how many activities don’t involve drinking? Even going out to the Grand you can buy a drink in the bar. Maybe Tesco’s support gets down to the bottom line. If this policy is ever adopted then Tesco gets more money yet the other supermarkets can’t sell these things any cheaper. The suppliers will continue to be screwed down to as low a price as possible whilst Tesco et al have a nice little earner.
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The simple solution is the higher the alcahol content the higher the price, that way we target drinks like White Lightening which are clearly aimed at tramps and alcaholics to be priced up not down.
We need to encourage a society where people enjoy a drink but not getting drunk, which is a wider one than increased prices alone.
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If you look at drinks prices though, that already is a fact. And how people can drink much White Lightening without their stomachs revolting I don’t understand. And having had one bottle almost full on the pavement outside my house one Friday night I can honestly say that as I poured it down the drain I wasn’t sure whether it was cider or piss.
Alcoholics and those who really like binge drinking will do anything to get enough booze – so I don’t think price will stop them. Several youngsters I know are quite happy to spend over £100 every Friday night drinking after already having had a few drinks at home. That’s nothing to do with price and everything to do with the lack of some other enjoyable culture to replace it. Sports or drinking seem to be the only activity available – being able to talk to your friends in a pub or club is exceedingly difficult. Stop bars and clubs from having too few seats and loud music and you might just slightly reduce booze consumption.
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Free meths now!
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Boy am I glad I didnt vote lib/lab or con!
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Part of the over drinking culture that has encroached upon the Country these last few years has been disposable income and easy access.
As we now enter the age of Austerity the situation will probably go quite some way to sorting itself out. People and that is all of us ladies and gentlemen simply will not have as much money to partake in excessive drinking.
But other than that yes I agree there should be an additional tax or minimum price per unit on alcohol sold in containers (ie for consumption as home or otherwise off licensed premises).
I think come the emergency budget later this Month we will see a tax increase anyway.
There is already a safeguard on premises as it is illegal to serve anyone who is clearly intoxicated. All the Authorities need to do is police this a bit better to ensure the rules work and you have a solution where yes people can still go to Tesco’s or Morrisons and buy enough to get rat arsed but they pay for the privilege and contribute more on taxes to the NHS etc pretty much as smokers do now.
Added bonus if ale and alcohol sold in pubs is not increased then it could give the industry the much needed impetus it so badly wants.
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Pubs wouldn’t be affected by it anyway because their price per unit is well over £1.00 per unit already.
I think Dave’s primed us all for a VAT hike with his speech this morning, so stuff will go up anyway.
I’m not sure making booze slightly more expensive in a supermarket is going to get people going to pubs. Remember for most people there’s a travel cost involved to go to the pub, and even for a short journey you’re talking at least £5.00 each way – enough to buy about 18 cans of lager in a supermarket.
Even if the minimum price per unit is 50p (as has been touted by the British Medical Association), that only amounts to £1.25 for a 500ml can/bottle of 5% booze, or £1.00 for 4%.
It’s not going to pump up the price of all lagers in a supermarket: many bottled beers are already over the minimum price so they will be unaffected. It will simply push up the price of the own brand crap and will get rid of these 15 cans for £8 special offers.
Things like bottled cider will be affected less because they’re the same ABV as a lager but tend to be a little more expensive.
Obviously, 2 litre bottles of 7.5% Diamond White cider will be affected: at 50p per unit the minimum cost would be £7.50. You can get it for about half that at the moment I think (not that I frequent offies looking for cheap cider!)
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