Minimum Prices on Alcohol
From The Telegraph:
The Government is set to force supermarkets to raise the price of alcoholic drinks in a bid to cut down on binge-drinking.
Instead of being able to buy 3 bottles of Lindemann’s Semillon Chardonnay from Sainsbury’s for the very decent price of £10 for 3 bottles, presumably I’ll have to have 2, you joyless bastards. Take it far enough, and people will be serving me home brew.
I frequently holiday in France, and in the past, haven’t bought much booze - you’ve got to pay out the money and store it, but if they’re going to do this, I’ll make sure I stock up in Calais where they already serve the same booze for a lower price. They don’t have a huge youth “binge drinking” problem, despite the fact that there are places where you can buy wine that’s dispensed out of something like a petrol pump for less than the price of what normally comes out of a petrol pump (and doesn’t taste much better).
In a letter to Labour MP John Grogan, Mr Fingleton said that ministers would have to establish the measure was “proportionate and necessary”.
The Government could satisfy this requirement by pointing to the continued ill health, crime and violence caused by alcohol, and the failure of stores to raise prices.
Drinkers should pay for the NHS? OK, sounds reasonable. Going back to an earlier pre-budget post, the costs to the NHS are £1.7bn, the tax raised is £6.7bn. Sainsbury’s pay that tax regardless of whether my Semillon Chardonnay costs £3.33 (and they add more profit to the cost of tinned mince) or the original £7.99 a bottle, so ill health is an irrelevance. The costs of treating it are covered.
The Tories said they would take “whatever action is required” to ban the sale of alcohol below cost price.
Shadow home secretary David Davis said: “The Government’s lax approach to 24-hour drinking has fuelled violent crime and disorder.
Well, yes, if you do what David Davis does and select out one period from 3am to 6am, where there has been a rise (and these make up 4% of all crimes). Overall, crime is down as a result of 24 hour drinking.
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I don’t think rising booze prices will be a deterrent, it’s education that young people need. But it’s not just young people. I heard a story on the radio last week about how we have the largest number of 60s who hit the bottle too.
Still, any excuse to visit France, I haven’t been over to Calais for ages. It’s so expensive to go through on the Tunnel whereas one time it would cost £25 return if it hit it right.
Hi Ellee,
Most of Europe is cheaper, yet don’t have quite the same drinking culture. I only really know France, and you can be in a small town, and the bars start closing at 7pm. People just drink after work, and mostly it’s more restaurant than bar based.
The other thing there is that youths coming home drunk is not OK in the way it is here.
Personally, I think sitting down at table in my teenage years and drinking wine gave me a different attitude, and I had my own booze at home, so I went out to socialise more than to drink.