Minimum price bylaw plan due by October

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A report on controversial plans to introduce a minimum price across Greater Manchester is expected to be released by October. As previously reported...

A report on controversial plans to introduce a minimum price across Greater Manchester is expected to be released by October.

As previously reported in The Publican ​in March, health lobbyists are campaigning for a landmark bylaw that will allow councils across the North West to bring in a floor price of 50p in pubs, shops and supermarkets.

Mike Jones, alcohol programme manager for Greater Manchester Public Health Network (GMPHN), confirmed it is looking into the viability of a bylaw, and will issue a report in October.

"We are putting together a task group to work out the nuts and bolts of the issue and working out what a model bylaw would look like," he said.

GMPHN is an alliance of groups that will be looking at the feasibility of a bylaw, including Association of Greater Manchester Authorities (AGMA) and the 10 Primary Care Trusts (PCTs) of Greater Manchester.

Manchester-based health body Our Life, which has been pushing for a minimum price of 50p on alcohol, welcomed the news.

Andy Walker, the group's head of corporate affairs, said: "Cheap alcohol isn't only a health issue. There are social costs and financial costs, for example, putting pubs out of business.

"A minimum price is the best way to deal with it and to level the playing field with supermarkets."

If a bylaw was introduced, it has raised concerns drinkers would cross the Greater Manchester border to buy cheap alcohol.

Walker denied this would be a problem, and drew from an Our Life survey on the public's views on drinking in the North West.

"The area is a hot spot for binge-drinking and violence. We found evidence that some 45 per cent of people in the north west of England actively avoid their town centres. Out of 30,000 people, nearly half of them said they don't go out because of violence.

"National action would be preferable, but this might encourage more people to come into town centres because they don't have the same drunken crowd."

However, the British Beer & Pub Association again questioned the legality of such a move.

Communications director Mark Hastings said: "There isn't a law in the land that lets you set the price of anything, be it fresh fruit or a can of beans. The legal position hasn't changed on this issue."

But Walker denied this was an issue: "On the back of legal advice we have taken, it is a feasible solution," he said.

Related topics Legislation

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