The Alcohol Information Partnership (AIP) has dismissed calls for minimum unit pricing on alcohol sold in England, calling it a ‘poor and controversial’ strategy to dealing with alcohol misuse.
Public Health England (PHE) has claimed that setting a minimum price that retailers could charge for alcoholic products would help drinkers with the heaviest dependency on alcohol, and was the most cost-effective way of dealing with the associated consequences on the NHS.
But AIP’s director general, Dave Roberts, called minimum unit pricing ‘an untested policy built on modelling and forecasting’ and disputed the reliability of evidence to support it.
Roberts also questioned PHE’s figures on alcohol abuse, saying that its claim that Brits drink twice as much now as they did 40 years ago ‘contradicts the government’s own figures’.
“In fact,” he said, “in the UK we drink almost exactly the same amount today as we did in 1976 [according to HMRC] and less than we did ten years ago.
“Minimum unit pricing has the potential to penalise moderate and responsible drinkers and increase the cost of enjoying a convivial drink without tackling serious misuse.
“Any harm caused by alcohol is always serious. However the vast majority of people who choose to drink do so in moderation…
“The data indicates that, to reduce the risk of harm, people should eat well, exercise, not smoke and, if they choose to drink alcohol, they should do so in moderation and within the guidelines.”
Roberts was responding to a PHE report that argued minimum unit pricing, combined with stricter taxation, would produce ‘substantial reductions in harm and increases in government revenue’.
Prof Kevin Fenton, national director of health and wellbeing for PHE, argued that the damage caused by excessive drinking warranted action. “Excessive alcohol consumption can harm children, wreck families, impact on workplace colleagues and can be a burden and drain on the NHS and economy,” he said.
“This evidence review will help local and national government and public services like the police and NHS to develop policies designed to reduce the harmful effects of alcohol.”
The proposed measure would bring England in line with Scotland, where the Court of Session in Edinburgh backed plans to introduce a minimum alcohol price in October. It would mean that retailers wouldn’t be able to charge less than £0.50 per unit of alcohol, potentially taking a bottle of spirit up to £14, the BBC reported.
But the move attracted criticism and was subject to a lengthy court case brought by the Scotch Whisky Association, which claimed that it would breach European law.
The Northern Ireland Executive has itself committed to a minimum unit price policy, which it predicted could reduce drink-related hospital admissions by more than 2,400 a year.
In England and Wales, the sale of alcohol below cost price – defined as alcohol duty plus VAT – is already outlawed.
And earlier plans to introduce minimum alcohol pricing, equivalent to £0.45 per unit of alcohol, was shelved by the last government in 2013.
If enacted, PHE’s recommendations would only apply to England, as Wales and Northern Ireland both have their own public health bodies and legislature.
AIP was launched in September by eight of the UK’s largest alcohol producers to promote their work in addressing alcohol abuse, with a remit that includes ensuring that the conversation around alcohol and its misuse ‘remains balanced’.
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024