Britain plans to introduce a minimum price for the sale of alcohol in England and Wales as part of an initiative to clamp down on binge drinking and anti-social behavior, which has become a major problem in many town centres across the country.
The plan, announced by the government on Friday, would prevent supermarkets selling alcohol at deeply discounted prices and result in a sharp rise in the price of super-strength ciders and lager as well as cheap spirits. It was immediately criticised by supermarket chains and drinks manufacturers.
Home Secretary Theresa May told parliament that the government wanted to discourage people from drinking at home before evenings out in town centres.
“What we do want to do is to affect the cheapest end of alcohol – those sorts of offers that enable people to really do this pre-loading. So many people now just get drunk at home before they go out, and that is what causes the problems in our town centres,” she said on BBC Television.
Health experts said last month up to 210,000 people in England and Wales will be killed prematurely by alcohol over the next 20 years.
Supermarkets and drinks manufacturers, however, voiced opposition to the plan, saying there was no proven link between price and alcohol consumption.
Britain’s second-largest supermarket group J Sainsbury Plc said the move would penalise responsible drinkers.
“It is disappointing that the government have chosen this route and we continue to believe there is no simple link between price, consumption and alcohol misuse,” it said.
Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to crack down on excessive drinking, calling it a “scandal” that costs the taxpayer-funded National Health Service an estimated 2.7 billion pounds ($4.27 billion) a year.
Media reports had suggested that the minimum price level would be set at 40 pence per unit of alcohol but May said the government would consult on the issue before setting a level.
Diageo, the world’s largest spirits company, said the move was misguided and said there was no evidence that it would reduce problem drinking.
“Rather than being a targeted intervention, it simply hits consumers hard, particularly those on low incomes,” it said.
At 40 pence per unit, the proposals would result in a multi-pack of 20 cans of strong lager being sold in supermarkets for 10 pounds increasing to 17.60 pounds, and a can of strong cider currently retailing at 87 pence rising to 1.60 pounds, according to research by analysts at Jefferies.
A unit is defined, in Britain, as 1 centilitre of alcohol. Thus, a 0.5 litre can of beer with a 5 percent alcohol content has 2.5 units; a 70 cl bottle of wine with a strength of 12 percent has 8.4 units; and a 70 cl bottle of spirits at 40 percent has 28 units.
Pubs firm Wetherspoon’s Chairman and Founder Tim Martin also criticised the proposals.
“The government’s plans for minimum pricing for alcohol are dealing with the symptoms and not the underlying problem. The reason supermarkets can sell alcoholic drinks so cheaply is that they pay no VAT on food and pubs pay 20 percent. Supermarkets can therefore cross-subsidise drink sales,” he said.
Labour’s home affairs spokeswoman, Yvette Cooper, accused the government of bringing forward the announcement to distract from a negative reaction to Finance Minister George Osborne’s budget, delivered on Wednesday.
“Over the last 10 years there have been only three government statements on a Friday – on the Iraq war, on swine flu and on Libya. All of them involving serious issues around national emergencies. What is the national emergency today?” she said.
