Health secretary calls for higher alcohol tax
Health secretary Patricia Hewitt has called for tax on alcohol to be increased to reduce binge drinking among teenagers.
In an interview with children's newspaper First News, she urged chancellor Gordon Brown to "really increase taxes on alcohol" in next year's budget.
"And particularly things like alcopops and some of the stuff that quite a lot of teenage boys and girls are drinking because we've got a real problem with binge drinking among young people.
"We've got enormous numbers of young people, particularly on a Friday and Saturday night, ending up in the casualty department of hospitals because they're drunk.
"They've fallen over and bashed their heads in because they're drinking too much.
"I think putting taxes up on alcohol would help discourage young people from spending too much money on alcohol."
Federation of Licensed Victuallers Associations cheif executive Tony Payne slated Hewitt's comments.
"Is she living in the real world?" he asked.
"She is trying to close pubs down by banning smoking, and by putting the price of beer up it will close more pubs."
Payne said higher taxes would not lead to more sensible drinking because people will simply drink more in an uncontrolled environment at home.
He added: "Labour is supposed to be a party for the working classes but it will be the working classes who will be affected by this. They won't be able to go to the pub after a hard day's work."
Portman Group chief executive David Poley said higher tax on alcohol is "a superficially attractive solution but it is not necessarily the right solution".
He told BBC Radio Four's Today programme: "Sure, if we increase taxes we are likely to reduce the population's overall consumption of alcohol, but that is not really the problem.
"The problem is more to do with how much certain individuals drink and the pattern of their drinking.
"High taxation is a relatively blunt instrument to deal with this complex problem."
Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers spokeswoman Kate Nicholls pointed out that Brown had already increased duty on RTDs by 11p a bottle in 2002, which was followed by a 25% fall in RTD sales.
She said a better way to combat heavy drinking among young people would be to target children who try to buy alcohol underage.
Nicholls said Hewitt would have explained her view to Brown anyway before his Budget. "I think she is just looking for cheap political points [by talking openly] and is breaching Parliamentary procedure in doing so."
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