[pic] UK Politics 18th January 2011

Ministers have unveiled plans to set a minimum price for alcohol in England and Wales. They say banning shops and bars from selling drinks for less than the tax paid on them will cut crime and set a "base price" for the first time. It works out at 38p for a can of weak lager and £10.71 for a litre of vodka. Health campaigners say that is too low to have an impact, but the drinks industry described the proposals as a "pragmatic solution".
In their coalition agreement, the Conservatives and Lib Dems pledged: "We will ban the sale of alcohol below cost price."
Under government proposals the ban is on sales of alcohol below the rate of duty plus VAT, rather than including the cost of producing the drinks. Home Office Minister James Brokenshire told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "Duty plus VAT is a basic definition of what the cost of those products are and we wanted something that was workable and that was actually compliant with competition law as well, so it could be introduced." Mr Brokenshire said the plans for England and Wales would have an impact, citing Home Office modelling which suggested the new "floor" on alcohol price would prevent around 7,000 crimes a year - 2,000 of them violent and target products associated with problem drinking. The policy was "an important first step," he said, adding the government would keep the policy under review: "This is not the end of this. I think it's very clear that we are actually setting a base price for the first time in this country - it won't be possible to sell alcohol below duty plus VAT and that does provide that floor."

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But Professor Ian Gilmore, of the Royal College of Physicians, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "It's a step in the right direction but I have to say, it's an extremely small step. It will have no impact whatsoever on the vast majority of cheap drinks sold in supermarkets."
Local shopkeepers questioned by the BBC News website said