Ministers follow Asda in setting minimum price for wine, beer and spirits

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Supermarkets are to be banned from selling wine, beer and spirits below a national "minimum price" under plans to be unveiled by ministers.
Asda is the first supermarket to set a price on alcohol.

The coalition will follow a formula first used by Asda, the supermarket chain, in setting the price, which is intended to be a major weapon in the battle against binge drinking.

The formula, aimed a clamping down on "loss leader" deals, means that no outlet will be able to sell any alcoholic drink for below the cost of duty on the product, plus VAT.

If they do they are likely to lose their licence to sell alcohol as well as face fines.

Under the plans, the minimum price for a litre bottle of spirits would be ?10.50, while a 20-pack of beer would have to cost at least ?8.50, and a bottle of normal-strength wine at least ?2.

Ministers are also to review the duty paid on beer, with a view to creating a new higher tax "bracket" for super-strength brews.

The proposals are expected to be announced within weeks, according to coalition sources, and could be included in the forthcoming Police and Social Responsibility Bill, to be piloted through the Commons by Theresa May, the Home Secretary.

David Cameron has consistently spoken out in support of stopping supermarkets selling what he described as "20 tins of Stella for a fiver".

However, while supermarkets and off licences are likely to accept the government's new formula, pub landlords are likely to argue that they still face being undercut.

Alcohol campaigners last night told The Sunday Telegraph the measures did not go far enough ? and suggested that ministers had set a particularly generous limit on wine for fear of alienating middle-class drinkers.

Professor Rajiv Jalan, a liver expert from the Royal Free Hospital in London, described the move as a "step in the right direction" but said it did not go far enough to make a major impact on the habits of those drinking too much.
He said: "What I would want to see is a minimum price of 50 pence per unit of alcohol, across the board. This sounds like a step in the right direction, but it falls well short of the kinds of changes that I think we need to see."

The professor of hepatology said that it was hard to believe that many people would be affected by a minimum price of ?2 for a bottle of wine.

"In terms of health, and the risks of liver disease, middle-class older drinkers drinking too much wine every day are as a much of a problem as the young binge drinkers who turn up in Accident and Emergency departments," he said.

"This doesn't go anywhere near far enough to make a difference. It won't hit wine at all, and it doesn't look like it will have much impact on people drinking other types of alcohol."

Sarah Matthews, from the British Liver Trust said: "This doesn't go anywhere near far enough to make a difference. It won't hit wine at all, and it doesn't look like it will have much impact on people drinking other types of alcohol."

Research had previously shown that a minimum price of 40 pence per unit could have a significant impact on binge drinking, reducing admissions to hospital, while costing the average person just 11 pence a week on their household bills, said Ms Matthews.

"In coming up with plans like these, it looks like the Government is choosing to ignore all the evidence," she said.
Ministers will also set up a review to study the "duty treatment of beer". Currently the duty is linked to alcoholic strength under a simple formula but it is understood the government will aim for a substantial new increase -in effect a super tax- for extremely strong beers and lagers.

Overall, their plans will be hard to introduce because they will run up against existing competition laws which ban unfair discrimination against firms which can supply goods at the lowest cost.

Sir Ian Gilmore, a liver specialist and past president of the Royal College of Physicians, said he would be ?very disappointed? if the ban on ?loss leader? deals was the only action taken by the Government to restrict sales of very cheap alcohol.

He said: ?There is very little alcohol sold below the bottom line of VAT plus duty so I don?t think these measures would have any meaningful impact.?
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Ministers follow Asda in setting minimum price for wine, beer and spirits - Telegraph

[mattybhoy]

This is the best reason so far to riot! ~~~~in tories!!

Seriously though, this is another swipe at the working class. Who buys cheap beer/alcohol at the supermarkets? It aint the middle classes and above that's for sure.

[cablefreejunkie]

this is just the start of the torie attack on every workingclass male or female in this country,,you will see these crooks slowly but surely draining every last penny out of your pocket in there so called austerity measures and there feeble ~~~~in attempt to create a big society,,,what the ~~~~ that means i dont know,,wasnt it the shedevil herself who once said there is no such thing as society
this bunch of shite coonts should be eradicated asap for the good of the workingclass