Minimum pricing debate will hot up
The onset of the August bank holiday weekend sadly reminds us that summer is almost over and the political conference season will soon be upon us.
Drinks industry lobbyists, like all those who seek to influence policy, take careful note of the opinion polls so they are likely to pay particular attention this autumn to the Tory gathering in Manchester.
The possibility of a hung Parliament means that the Liberal gathering in Bournemouth may also attract more than the usual attention from the industry. Moreover, the fact that Scottish Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill seems as sure of his view of minimum alcohol pricing as he was of the decision to release Abdelbaset al-Megrahi means that the SNP conference in Inverness is particularly important for the pub and beer companies.
The development of Conservative Party policy on alcohol has been attracting particular attention during the summer break. As yet the detail is lacking but there are some interesting hints. David Cameron has said the Tories needed to look "at the unbelievable availability of very cheap drink". There is one suggestion that tax might be increased on high-strength drinks and another that there might be a ban on loss-leader sales of alcohol by supermarkets.
The British Beer & Pub Association has given a warm welcome to these tentative proposals but as they become more concrete there will be important questions for both the Conservatives and the industry associations to answer. ?By endorsing the case for higher taxation on high-strength alcohol products, will industry lobbyists in the run-up to the 2010 Budget abandon their strategy of calling for a complete freeze on all alcohol duties.
Such are the very different interests of beer, cider, wine and whisky that the coalition between the various different trade associations spanning the sector was unlikely to last for long.
With the pressures on public finances in the coming years meaning that alcohol duty overall is likely to rise, the challenge for beer is surely to prove to prospective Chancellors that it is a special case.
As for curtailing below-cost selling, the question for policy-makers is how on earth this can be done effectively except through a system of minimum pricing?
It is interesting to note that Dr Sarah Wollaston, the new Tory candidate for Totnes, who uniquely was elected by a primary vote of all her constituents, has spoken in favour of just such a minimum price of alcohol.
