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.

WHO SUPPORTS MINIMUM PRICING?

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. <ref> Daily Record.co.uk “500 kids kicked out of school each year over drink and drugs” (Accessed 30/03/2010)