Boris Johnson dismisses minimum pricing

The Mayor of London has rejected calls for a minimum price per unit to tackle alcohol problems.

Boris Johnson said improved education, as well as enforcement measures including more police community support officers (PCSOs) on the beat, should be used to tackle problem drinking.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Any Questions​, the mayor said "increased prices for alcohol are absolutely not being considered" in London.

He said minimum pricing would be "a deeply regressive measure".

"If you whack up the price of alcohol in the way that Liam Donaldson is proposing, that will fall most heavily on some of the poorest groups in society," he said.

"We need a campaign of education, we need people to realise their limits and stop getting quite so drunk, and we need more PCSOs and safer neighbourhood teams out to exercise a deterrent in some of our town centres."

Johnson cited the ban on alcohol on public transport in London, one of his first acts after being elected last year, as an example of effective alcohol policy. "It is overwhelmingly popular with the public, and with drivers," he said.

The mayor also rejected a suggestion that the minimum drinking age should be raised to 21. "I think that would be profoundly un-British," he said.