Government prepared to act on below cost sales

Related tags John grogan mp Supermarkets Alcoholic beverage

Health minister says the Government is "prepared to change the law"

Health minister Ben Bradshaw has said the Government is "prepared to change the law" regarding below cost selling of alcohol.

Speaking at a debate in Westminster today, he pointed to the upcoming review of the relationship between alcohol pricing and harm.

"We do have concerns about the pricing of shops and supermarkets and deep discounting, often as loss leaders selling below cost.

"Depending on the review findings, expected next summer, we are prepared to change the law."

But Conservative MP David Amess said: "There's no way this Government is going to take on the big supermarkets. It's an absolute joke. This Government goes hand in glove with supermarkets with every issue."

The practice of below-cost alcohol sales in supermarkets took a battering during today's debate on the health consequences of the availability of cheap alcohol.

All Party Parliamentary Beer Group chairman John Grogan MP labelled Tesco boss Terry Leahy "the god father of binge drinking".

He called for supermarkets to abandon below cost-price selling and to create a code of practice for responsible alcohol sales, mirroring those in the on-trade.

"They must stop putting their heads in the sand. We must have some leadership from these very powerful individuals," Grogan said.

Kelvin Hopkins MP, the former chairman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Misuse, said: "We need to have minimum price level for alcoholic drinks and we want the level in supermarkets to be raised to be something like the level in public houses."

Michael Penning, Conservative MP for Hemel Hempstead, stressed the dire impact of the "morally wrong" practice of selling alcohol so cheaply in supermarkets.

"If we are not very careful in this country we will not have the great British pub to drink in. If you look at the number that have closed in the last few years it's very frightening", Penning said.

Burton MP Janet Dean highlighted that higher alcohol duty is not the answer - because supermarkets sell below cost regardless of tax.