BBPA highlights "what's going on in the real world

A senior trade figure has today launched a fresh attack on the government's figures used within the Safe, Sensible, Social ​consultation.

Speaking at the BBPA's autumn Key Issues Forum, communications director Mark Hastings described the evidence base of the KPMG report as "flawed" and said the Department of Health had grossly miscalculated the cost of a unit labelling scheme.

The KPMG review, released in July, looked at industry standards on promotions and underage sales and found voluntary agreements were not being "consistently adopted".

But Hastings said: "We are challenging this evidence base and the flaws within it. There is an extraordinary disconnection between data and spin."

Hastings said the hard data in fact showed a strong level of compliance within the industry and that the cost of labelling the majority of drinks with alcohol unit content and government guidelines could be 20 per cent higher than the government's predicted £30m.

"We want to expose the lack of credibility over their evidence base and challenge their costs and assumptions," he added.

"We want to highlight what is going on in the real world."

The deadline for responses to the Safe, Sensible, Social​ consultation expires next Tuesday (October 14).

Hastings also described the BBPA's document A Wake-Up for Westminster,​ released last month, as "the theme music" to how the industry is responding.

Meanwhile, later this month the trade group is planning to launch a new campaign called Axe the Beer Tax, which aims to mobilise the public into supporting the industry and stop further beer duty rises.