Tories will ban below cost alcohol sales
The Conservatives have vowed to "overhaul" the licensing regime and ban below cost sales of alcohol in supermarkets and off-licences.
In its election manifesto, the Tories said it would give police and local authorities much stronger powers to remove licences from or refuse to grant licences to problem premises.
It said it would:
• Allow councils and the police to shut down permanently any shop or bar found persistently selling alcohol to children
• Double the maximum fine for under-age alcohol sales to £20,000
• Raise taxes on those drinks linked to anti-social drinking, while abolishing Labour's new 'cider tax' on ordinary drinkers
• Ban off-licences and supermarkets from selling alcohol below cost price
• Permit local councils to charge more for late-night licences to pay for additional policing.
The Tories also said they would implement a "right to buy" scheme for communities to help protect assets such as post offices and pubs.
It said: "Nothing underlines the powerlessness that many communities feel more than the loss of essential services, like post offices and pubs, because of decisions made by distant bureaucrats.
"Our new 'community right to buy' scheme will give local people the power to protect any community assets that are threatened with closure."
Making rate relief automatic and abolishing the default retirement age are also included. And firms won't pay Employers National Insurance for the first 10 employees for the first two years of a Tory Government.
Beer tie
Earlier today, the Morning Advertiser exclusively revealed that the Tories will also back the recommendations of the Business, Skills and Innovation Committee and pubs minister John Healey's proposals for reform of the beer tie (Conservatives back action on beer tie).
A spokesman for David Cameron said: "The Conservative Party supports the idea that should the industry fail to deliver self-regulation by June 2011, the Government of the day should end up consulting on putting the Code of Practice on a statutory basis.
"The Government have agreed to this and we are happy with this position."
