The Home Secretary has announced five conditions for the new mandatory licensing code, seemingly ending speculation of it being scrapped - though the code still requires parliamentary approval.
As of the 6th April 2010, the first 3 proposed conditions are planned to come into effect:
- banning irresponsible promotions, such as ‘all you can drink for £10’ or ‘women drink free’ deals, that encourage people to drink quickly or irresponsibly
- banning ‘dentist’s chairs’ where drink is poured directly into the mouths of customers, making it impossible for them to control the amount they are drinking
- ensuring free tap water is available for customers, allowing people to space out their drinks
Premises will have further time to prepare for the remaining 2 conditions due to come in on the 1st October 2010:
- ensuring all those who sell alcohol have an age-verification policy in place, requiring them to check the ID of anyone who looks under-18
- ensuring small measures of beers, wine and spirits are made available to customers
The code has seen alcohol hitting the headlines again following the recent attention over the main political party's alcohol policies. In announcing the code, the Labour government appear to have reinforced their stance they are not currently looking to introduce minimum pricing following recent supportive comments from the health secretary.
A Guardian report commented that the government did not wish to appear to be penalising 'responsible drinkers' in an election year, but that a 'clear political auction is now developing over cheap booze'. Today the Conservatives announced the crime section of their election manifesto, promising to 'ban off-licences and supermarkets from selling alcohol below cost price' and raise tax on 'super-strength beers, ciders and alcopops'. The Tory's alcohol policy recently came under fire for proposing to scrap the current unit system.
But the mandatory code today also generated criticism, particularly from the on-trade who highlighted they were being unfairly targeted whilst supermarkets were left untouched. A 2008 consultation on the code had revealed supermarket 'loss-leading' as one of the main areas for concern. The BBPA have labelled the code 'lop-sided and unbalanced', reporting that nearly 70% of all alcohol is sold in supermarkets while the pub trade continues to suffer. Other industry representatives have described the maximum penalty of £20,000 for breach of the code as 'ludicrous'. However health experts welcomed the code, but still called for minimum pricing measures.
See here for a BBC video report and here for the Telegraph story.
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