Globalisation:Minimum Pricing and EU Law

THE MINIMUM PRICING DEBATE

JUST DRINKS

Alcohol and it’s consumption have become art of the forefront of political debate. There have been plans for cutting binge drinking and alcohol fuelled anti-social behaviour, which can cost the UK millions of pounds each year. The ‘Just Drinks’ website published an article called ‘UK: Mixing alcohol and politics,’ which stated that it is most likely that any political party will introduce duties on alcohol, the question is whether they will introduce duties onto all alcoholic drinks or just onto certain categories. The article found that 23% of people thought labour were most likely to put alcohol prices up the most compared to the conservatives who received 20% of the votes. The conservatives have suggested targeting specific categories of drinks for minimum pricing such as super strength beer and cider. The argument against this says that this is too small a category therefore it will not make a significant enough impact to alcohol abuse. Labour have not been so forthcoming with their view on this as they say that they do not want to rule out minimum pricing however Home Secretary Alan Johnson says that they do not want to penalise responsible drinkers on low incomes. The Wilson Drinks Report suggests that minimum pricing may not actually work as it is intended because 21% of drinkers would purchase less alcohol if prices were increased by 25%. Over 50% of drinkers would either just pay more for alcohol or choose a cheaper option. The question which the article previously mentioned arises is whether minimum pricing can realistically tackle the problems of alcohol abuse in Britain.

TENNANTS

Recently one of the big companies to support the minimum pricing strategy has been Tennants. They claim that it will be part of a solution to the UK’s problems with binge drinking. This suggestion supports the SNP’s plan for minimum alcohol pricing. However, some critics have said that Tennants only support this because they would benefit financially from it. Tennants is the first major drinks company to support minimum pricing with others claiming that it will penalise the majority of Scots drinkers who are sensible. Tennants do say that minimum pricing alone will not solve Scotland’s problems, however it is a start especially if the prices of strong strength products are affected. An example of a change in pricing would be a four pack of Tennants super lager would increase from £5.28 to £6.33 in Asda. Nicola Strugeon, the Scottish Health Minister supports Tennants saying that other producers should not fear joining them in support of minimum pricing. She said that companies should ‘do the right thing for the good of Scotland’s health.’ One Scottish labour spokesman made a valid point that if minimum pricing is enforced then the extra profit should go to alcohol treatment and not companies like Asda, Tesco or Tennants. There is a lot of support for this idea from the UK’s four Chief Medical Officers, the British Medical Association and the Royal Colleges. It seems as though it is inevitable that with this much support it will go ahead.

SCHOOLS

The Daily Record ran an article in January 2010 which detailed the problems which schools were experiencing with alcohol and drug problems regarding their pupils. They claimed that in 2009 more than 500 pupils were thrown out of class as a result of drink and drug incidents. Drugs however does seem to be a more prevalent problem. North Lanarkshire had the highest number of exclusions for alcohol related incidents with 24 pupils being excluded. Teachers and parents reacted by seeking tougher action from the Scottish Government. There have already been some initiatives put in place for tackling this problem such as a Positive Behaviour Team that promote improving pupil behaviour. There is also the Choices for Life Programme which involves the Scottish Drug Enforcement Agency. A spokesman for the Education Secretary Mike Russell said that minimum pricing would help to deter alcohol misuse among the minority of pupils because the cheapest alcohol would increase in price.

TORIES: Iain Duncan Smith

The Times published an article in January 2010 which detail Ian Duncan Smith’s views on minimum pricing. He claimed that supermarkets are ‘as close to immoral as you can get’ because they sell alcohol so cheap which creates alcoholics. This is a harsh statement because it is not just the cheap price of alcohol which causes alcoholism; there are other factors which play a role such as personal and social circumstances. He claims that the political parties are cowardly for not increasing the cost of alcohol because they are afraid of ‘alienating voters for the election.’ He also says that Britain has become ‘alcohol-obsessed’ and that the level of excess drinking is too much. Alcohol is claimed to be just as dangerous as illegal drugs and causes many deaths and illnesses every year. Supermarkets reacted angrily saying that alcohol pricing has nothing to do with kids misbehaving. They say that the problem is a youth drinking culture and has nothing to do with the retailers. Jeremy Beadles of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association said that Mr Smith is wrong because millions of adults enjoy it responsibly so it should never be compared to something like heroin. Mr Smith stands by his view that alcohol is one of the main contributors to problems in our society and that the middles class drinker should have to pay as much as the binge drinker and the alcoholic.

SHEFFIELD UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS

In March this year researchers from Sheffield University supported the minimum pricing debate saying that it would “benefit all.” They claimed that by setting the minimum cost of one alcohol unit at 50 pence would save up to 50,000 people from illness in a decade. People aged 45 plus would benefit the most especially in terms of cardiovascular disease. England’s Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson has been calling for minimum pricing and the government says it wants to control cheap alcohol. The researchers said that minimum pricing will not stop promotions because supermarkets can still offer large discounts like buy one get one free, however there will be no drink what you like offers. The researchers also claimed that minimum pricing would reduce a moderate drinker’s weekly intake by 3.5% which adds up to a lot over time. Don MacKechnie, vice-president of the College of Emergency Medicine supports minimum pricing saying that policy makers should be considering this.

GORDON BROWN: LABOUR

The labour party have shown strong opposition to the proposal of minimum pricing mainly because they say it will punish the majority of sensible drinkers. On 16th March 2009 the Guardian ran an article which spoke about how Gordon Brown rejected proposals from the Chief Medical Officer to have a minimum price for alcohol, which was said to possibly double the price of some beers and spirits. The proposal for a minimum charge of 50pence per unit of alcohol was rejected because Brown said that he wanted to protect the interests of “the sensible majority of moderate drinkers.” Gordon Brown claimed in 2009 that the Government had already taken action on binge drinking but that it had to be sensible. The Scottish Government planned to introduce minimum pricing, which would make Scotland the first country in Europe to introduce this. Health professionals did admit that during the recession there was no chance of minimum pricing being adopted, however they had hope for it afterwards. Several people have supported Gordon Brown in his opposition against minimum pricing.

PORTMAN GROUP, WINES AND SPIRITS ASSOCIATION

David Poley who is the Chief Executive for the Portman Group, which promotes sensible drinking set up by drinks manufacturers, said that hard working families would be hit the hardest who are already struggling to survive. He also claimed that the people who want to get drunk will still get drunk. Jeremy Beadles, the Chief Executive if the Wines and Spirits Association supported this saying that he was worried that during a recession the Government thought it was a sensible idea to talk about raising prices on alcohol for consumers who are already struggling to make ends meet. James Purnell, the work and pensions secretary disputed this saying that they wanted to focus on the irresponsible minority; however it can be questioned whether it is possible not to punish the sensible majority if prices are increased. One major issue which has to be dealt with if alcohol abuse is to be solved is people’s attitudes on the issue and also the culture which is a major factor in the consumption of alcohol. It should not just be the supply and price of alcohol which is addressed rather the attitudes and culture of alcohol should be considered.

SCOTCH WHISKY ASSOCIATION AND THE SCOTTISH GOVERNMENT

BBC News ran an article in October 2009 which claimed that the Scotch Whisky Association claimed the Government’s plans for alcohol minimum pricing were at risk. When attempting to impose a minimum price on tobacco the European Court ruled that three countries had breached competition rules. This cast doubt upon the legality of the Scottish Government plans to introduce a minimum price for alcohol. The Scottish Government responded saying that the tobacco and alcohol cases were not relevant to each other. Their justification was that setting a minimum price for health reasons was perfectly legal. However the Scotch Whisky Association Chief Executive, Gavin Hewitt said that this doubt is valid and that the Scottish Government cannot ignore it. He said that the Government have to realise how damaging this proposal is to Scottish jobs and that it has already been deemed illegal in Austria, Ireland and France, therefore they should give up the idea. Finally he said that the Scotch Whisky Association was willing to work with the Government in tackling alcohol abuse, however they opposed minimum pricing. The Scottish Government spokeswoman Nicola Sturgeon said that it is irrelevant to link tobacco minimum pricing to alcohol. She said that the legal problem with tobacco is to do with the excise duty on manufactured tobacco which has nothing to do with tobacco. Again she promoted the idea of minimum pricing and health and that the aim was to protect public health in Scotland. The labour party responded to this asking the Scottish Government to make the legal aspects of minimum pricing on alcohol clear.