In the build up to the elections, we'll be trying to update you with key news and developments relating to national alcohol policy. The recent level of political attention, and the pricing and availability debate in particular, could prove important election topics. Here's some of the recent goings on:
The former Tory Leader Iain Duncan-Smith, who heads the think tank The Centre for Social Justice, has made strong calls for higher taxes which should be ring-fenced for alcohol treatment. According to The Times Duncan-Smith, who is likely to take a Cabinet position following a successful conservative election, said:
“We are into unpopular territory, but to deal with something like alcohol that is damaging the fabric of the nation we need to raise prices. There is a direct connection between the price of alcohol and consumption.”Duncan-Smith argued an 'an across-the-board tax' was needed to increase the costs to all drinkers. Increasing taxes has been announced as part of the Conservative's alcohol policy, but questions have been raised about how effective it will be 'to find a fair formula that could be used to judge whether a product is being sold below cost', as outlined in their Green paper. Alcohol Concern have previously commented that increased taxes are a start, but that minimum pricing is the most effective policy and prevents supermarkets from absorbing tax increases on alcohol as loss-leaders.
The calls for further taxation were vehemently rejected by a supermarket retail consortium who dismissed the role of cheap alcohol: 'Pushing up prices won’t make a difference. Changing attitudes will and that’s what retailers are engaged in.' The British Retail Consortium spokesperson also controversially claimed supermarkets were 'the most responsible sellers of alcohol' but supermarkets have since had wider pricing tactics labelled as 'cynical and agressive'. Supermarkets were recently left out of the mandatory code which bans irresponsible promotions in pubs and bars.
The British Medical Journal (BMJ) have released a number of comment editorials critical of government policy and industry groups:
- 'Preventing alcohol harm to health'
- 'Lobby watch: The Portman group'
- 'Failure of self regulation of UK advertising'
The Drug and Alcohol Findings bank has released a bulletin based on a US report reviewing 'The effectiveness of tax policy interventions for reducing excessive alcohol consumption and related harms' - access it here. The US task force, representing the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explored pricing policies and the related political issues across the globe.
Scotland
The tense pricing debate has been continuing in Scotland, where the Scottish National Party (SNP) are attempting to bring in pricing measures without opposition backing. The SNP do however have support from a range of health professionals and organisations, most recently from a group of international scientists (see The Herald). However the Royal Society of Edinburgh have said the likely minimum price of 40 pence per unit would not go far enough and should be set a 50 pence, a Times story reports. Although the proposed price has not yet been set, with the average unit price currently at 43p the Health Secretary Nicola sturgeon highlighted the need to 'strike a balance'.
There was also recent press cynicism of the validity of the University of Sheffield's research on the impact of minimum pricing after lead researcher Dr Petra Meir said "The idea of modelling is you haven't introduced a policy, you're trying to project what is going to happen. It's like the weather forecast, you don't evaluate it afterwards, it's a model."
Other UK policy news
A survey by the Sunday Mirror reports that soft drinks are more expensive than beer in half of the UK's pubs, a Public report highlights.
A Ministerial Statement form the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has set out the Government's intention to ban the product placement of alcohol and foods high in fat, salt or sugar.
A parliamentary question has resulted in a summary of all prosecutions and PNDs for sales of alcohol to under 18s since 1997.
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