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Minimum Price for Alcohol

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Reply 20

caw123

That would make a 4 pack of Brew £9.

Hold me.

Reply 21

quadruple_twist

A 70cl bottle of Glen's would be thirteen sodding pounds! Bastards.

Reply 22

Joanna May

I don't see why it's the government's business to punish the majority of drinkers for the actions of a few. I drink too much and get completely drunk and ridiculous. Yet I don't vomit on the pavement, beat up random people for staring at me, vandalise things or cause car crashes. So why punish me financially, when the only person I'm hurting is myself?

I still don't understand why the UK has such a problem with underage drinking when it's the only country I've ever been IDed in. And I don't look old for my age.

Reply 23

Reue

Previous research and financial statistics clearly show that there is no negative correlation between alcohol consumption and pricing increases.

The arguements that increasing cost will reduce consumption are complete nonsense and certainly not support by existing date. This is mearly an additional hidden tax.

The government needs to wake up and start tackling the problems of violence rather then blanket demonising alcohol. Alchol in France is consumed at a far younger age and is much much cheaper then in england.. and yet they have nowhere near the same levels of violence within the towns at night. Convenient however that the Labour government chooses to overlook this perfect example just across the channel..

Reply 24

thetopnotch

Reue

the stat in the bbc website was:

BBC

Our correspondent added that recent research from the Department of Health had shown that a minimum of 50 pence per unit of alcohol would reduce consumption by almost 7%.

I can't remember if it mentioned who their correspondant was, and if it mentioned who it was in the article or not. Even though this suggests negative correlation between the 2 factors, i think (as i posted earlier) that this stat has not been split up to look at the different groups in society who will be affected by this. Like moderate drinkers will be affected differently to heavy drinkers or something along those lines. So basically I don't think this stat proves enough for the policy to be implemented just on the basis of this stat.

I agree that it's a hidden tax, and it affects those on lower incomes in higher proportion to their income. But on your point about France, Social norms are different there, with a different attitude to drinking. This may help their lower violence. There may be the same problem due to alcohol there but at a lower effect. But there are also other factors that need to be considered about France too, before we can start implementing the same policies as them. Like links between alcohol related violence and the demography of the population or unemployment or university entering rates etc.

Reply 25

quadruple_twist

So is this a tax of 40/50p per unit (depending on whether we're talking about Scotland or otherwise), because that'd make alcohol extremely expensive when you consider the companies actually have to make a profit?

Reply 26

thetopnotch

quadruple_twist

i think it would just be a tax on top of the price, i.e. charged at the till sort of thing. So the cost would be taken into account then there would be the proft mark-up or whatever and then tax on top. I guess if it went through it would be done like VAT i guess.

Reply 27

INTit

So a 4 pack of beer is going to cost at minimum £4 probably a lot more considering thats the tax alone.
What a joke

Talk about the "nanny state" what next are they going to set a minimum price on Mcdonalds,crisps,snacks because fat people cost the NHS money too ?

Reply 28

Perfect_Gent

quadruple_twist

A 70cl bottle of Glen's would be thirteen sodding pounds! Bastards.

That would make the minimum price for a 70cl bottle of cheap spirit would be £13 so better quality stuff would go up proportionately.

Reply 29

Possédé

Yeah, I was meaning off-licences. Heck, I look a lot older for 17 and every off-license asks for a passport around where I live. There's a lot less hassle involved when buying 'illegal' drugs and now that alcohol is going to be so expensive, I'd much rather spend my money on other drugs and get more out of them. Pubs are awkward when half of your friends look younger than 18 but have fake IDs, and the others don't even get in.

AndyK67

Hardly. They've barely done anything about pubs whereas most of the crackdowns are aimed at the off-licences. OK, the off-licences are where most underagers will get their drink, but by the age of 16-17 underage drinkers will likely move onto the pubs where ID checking is negligible.

And I'm sure the SNP were proposing this not too long ago up here, except the minimum price being stated was around 40p a unit.

Reply 30

Renner

Its not a tax, the government wont be taking any money from this. It won’t affect pubs because they already charge more than 50p per unit, it will affect supermarkets which sell alcohol at stupidly low prices.

Reply 31

thetopnotch

Renner

Oh true, but where does the money extra being charged by supermarkets go? Into their pockets?

Reply 32

Renner

thetopnotch

Oh true, but where does the money extra being charged by supermarkets go? Into their pockets?

I'm guessing they just keep it, but seeing as most cheap alcohol is sold below at a loss I don’t think it will make much difference.

Reply 33

Howard

Perfect_Gent

The BBC is reporting http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7944334.stm that the governments top medical advisor has come up with a plan to charge a minimum of 50p a unit, this would mean a bottle of supermarket wine could cost a minimum of £4.50 so the knock on price in pubs etc. could be a lot more.

Surely this would just increase continental imports/smuggling/home made/hooch etc.

Is it possible to buy a bottle of wine for £4.50?

TBH, 50p a unit sounds cheap. What's a "unit" anyway? A shot of whisky?

Reply 34

Renner

Howard

Is it possible to buy a bottle of wine for £4.50?

TBH, 50p a unit sounds cheap. What's a "unit" anyway? A shot of whisky?

Aye

Reply 35

Howard

Renner

Aye

Setting a minimum price of 50p for a shot of whiskey seems a bit pointless. Surely you can't buy a shot for 50p anyway?

Reply 36

Renner

Howard

Setting a minimum price of 50p for a shot of whiskey seems a bit pointless. Surely you can't buy a shot for 50p anyway?

Not in a pub, but you can buy bottles of Vodka for example from a supermarket for a tenner which contain more than 20 units. This cheap supermarket booze is what this is aimed at, not Pubs which the government are worried about seeing as there in decline.

Repealing the smoking ban and stopping to be so harsh on drink driving would be the only way to stop the decline, lower taxes on beer would also help.

Reply 37

Howard

Renner

Well, it doesn't look as if the government is going to make this "minimum 50p" thing law anyway. A permanently pissed society is a permanently stupid society; easier to control generally.

Reply 38

Renner

Howard

Well, it doesn't look as if the government is going to make this "minimum 50p" thing law anyway. A permanently pissed society is a permanently stupid society; easier to control generally.

Aye, looks like it. Drink used to be a much bigger problem than it is now, by 1743 in England people were drinking 2.2 gallons of gin annually per head of population--a fair amount for individuals who were significantly smaller and less robust than we are today.