Industry slams Tory alcohol price hike proposals
Industry leaders have slammed proposals by the Conservative Party to increase the price of alcohol to fight binge-drinking.
The Conservative Party is expected to publish a report this week which will propose to increase the price of a pint by 7p, 15p to a bottle of wine and 25p to a bottle of whisky.
Mark Hastings, communications director at the British Beer & Pub Association, said: Such a tax hike would do nothing to target or tackle binge drinking and everything to drive drinking underground.
" It would lead to a surge in booze cruise shopping, black market and illicit alcohol sales. It would drive drinking out of the controlled environment of the licensed market into the arms of the bootleggers. It won't even raise more tax as the only people to benefit would be French business and the French Chancellor as people would start shopping there rather than in Britain."
Michael Thompson, the Portman Group's head of communications, said: "Increasing the price of alcohol would not necessarily deter heavy drinkers.
"In many countries in Scandinavia alcohol is more expensive than here yet they suffer similar binge drinking problems.
"The opposite happens in France and Spain where alcohol is cheaper but they tend to drink sensibly.
"In any case, there are signs that the level of overall consumption is falling. Therefore the focus should be on the minority who do not appreciate the risks associated with heavy drinking. We can engineer a change in the drinking culture through stronger education."
Paul Smith, executive director of BEDA added: "We would strongly fight this as it will do nothing to curb binge-drinking or reduce health harms. To do that we need better education to encourage the general public to drink sensibly.
"This is not an overnight solution, but it is the best way, in the longer term to reduce alcohol related harms. On the taxation front you only have to look to Europe to see there is no direct correlation between high taxes and reductions in health harms."
