General Election and the Parties views on Alcohol
Posted on Sat 21st Apr 2012 at 12:19
With the 7th of May looming and the General Election finally at the last hurdle, what are the policies put forward by the main parties when it comes to alcohol?
Decanter.com wanted to find out and approached the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats to find out more about their proposals on tackling binge drinking, levels of excise duty and the way alcohol is sold. The Conservatives The Conservatives said they will ‘radically overhaul’ the licensing system to help councils and the police to crack down on binge drinking, closing down problem pubs and bars. ‘Rather than penalise all drinkers, we need to take targeted action against the problem drinks favoured by young drinkers,’ a Conservative spokesperson told decanter.com. In addition a Conservative government would also ban retailers from selling alcohol below cost price, citing support from the Royal College of Physicians. Labour Manifesto Pledge - Action on high strength, low cost alcohol Alan Campbell, a Home Office Minister and Labour candidate, told Decanter.com that local agencies now have enough powers to tackle social problems.
This would include Drink Banning Orders and a mandatory code targeting drinks promotions that are irresponsible. He also said that Labour was committed to raising alcohol duty rates by 2% above inflation until 2014/15. He went on to state the party would ‘continue to look at’ measures including a ban on selling alcohol below cost, and distanced himself from the idea of minimum pricing. ‘Our view remains that the majority of drinkers are responsible and should not be penalised for the irresponsibility of a minority,’ he said. ‘This especially applies to most kinds of usual-strength wines available in supermarkets.’ The Liberal Democrats Manifesto Pledge - Introduce Minimum Unit Pricing for alcohol According to Decanter.com’s report, The Liberal Democrats support a ban on below-cost alcohol, and are in favour of the principle of minimum pricing, ‘subject to detailed work to establish how effective it could be in tackling problems of irresponsible drinking’.
On the levels of duty levels applied, the party stated that tax should be levied in order to deter irresponsible drinking, adding: ‘But this should not be done at the cost of penalising responsible drinkers and hurting local industries’. And The Liberal Democrats would also introduce a ‘one strike and you’re out’ policy for retailers selling alcohol to children, along with extra protection for NHS staff threatened by drunk people admitted to A&E. WTSA The potential outcomes of the General Election were also discussed by the WSTA Executive Board met on 29th April. The Board noted that due to successful interaction with Government in recent years, the perception of the drinks industry had changed markedly, away from alcohol as being a cause of health harm and public disorder to socially responsible economic contributor and job creator. The WSTA would like to build on this over the next five years. WTSA also identified that ‘the smaller parties and Parliament were both likely hold greater influence over the next Government’. WTSA believe his might have implications on the inclusion of policies like a Minimum Unit Pricing (by Liberal Democrats, SNP and minor parties) as well as what stance parties may take around drink-driving (following Scotland’s change) and other public health and alcohol areas.