By David Williams
8 January 2010
MPs have called for minimum prices and higher taxes for alcohol, attacking government policy as being too influenced by the interests of drinks manufacturers and retailers.
A report from the Commons’ health select committee estimates that harmful effects of drinking cost the UK £20bn–£55bn every year, costs not fully recuperated by alcohol taxes.
Committee chair Kevin Barron said: ‘Successive governments have failed to tackle the problem and it is now time for bold government.
‘Even small reductions in the number of people misusing alcohol could save the NHS millions.
‘What is required is fundamental cultural change brought about by evidence-based policies.’
The paper, Alcohol, published today, dismisses industry claims that minimum per-unit prices would hit moderate drinkers.
‘It is time the government listened more to the chief medical officer and the president of the Royal College of Physicians and less to the drinks and retail industry,’ it concludes. ‘The government must be more sceptical about the industry’s claims that it is in favour of responsible drinking.’
The report claims the industry depends on problem drinkers for three-quarters of its sales. It estimates that up to 40,000 deaths annually could be alcohol-related.
The MPs call for a minimum alcohol price of 40p per unit but say that without a simultaneous rise in taxes, this would simply increase supermarket profits. They want higher taxes on spirits, saying the real-terms price has more than halved between the early 1980s and 2002.
The committee also recommended that taxes be raised on white cider and lowered on beer with a concentration of alcohol under 2.8%.
Barron said unit pricing would remove some of the price advantage supermarkets currently hold over traditional pubs.
The MPs noted that the £17.6m the government is spending on alcohol awareness this year is dwarfed by the £600m–£800m spent on promoting drink.
Seymour Fortescue, chair of the Portman Group, which represents the major UK drinks producers, said a system on minimum pricing would be unfair on the majority of responsible drinkers.
‘A fairer and more effective approach focuses on dependent and binge drinkers. We can influence the irresponsible minority though better education and effective law enforcement,’ he said.
‘The evidence proves that responsible marketing mainly influences our choice of drink rather than how much we consume.’
