In an emergency debate in the Commons today, Home Office minister Jeremy Browne said there was a “compelling case” for ditching government plans for minimum pricing on booze.
In the wake of these developments, The Grocer went to canvass opinion from almost as many people from the drinks industry as there were MPs who bothered to turn up for the debate.
All agreed on two things.
First, despite themselves, they felt sorry for the flustered Browne, sent over the hill by the good generals Cameron, Osborne and May to defend another spectacular government U-Turn.
Second, there was incredulity at how it had got this far only for ministers to agree with the central argument against the policy that was raised when it was first published in November.
Browne, despite having clearly been sent out with orders to say as little as possible, admitted the decision to scrap minimum pricing came down to basic unfairness.
He said the policy could punish responsible drinkers, painting a picture of a hard-pressed pensioner being stung over the price of their weekly bottle of wine.
“If you had an elderly person who might buy one bottle of wine a week, there is a strong argument against financially penalising them by introducing minimum pricing.”
So why, in November, when its own impact assessment admitted the policy would hit the poorest consumers in the pocket hardest, not to mention cost the Treasury £200m a year in lost revenue and have an unknown financial impact on the drinks industry, was the government so gung-ho?
The vast majority of retailers and suppliers have been saying the same thing for months. Minimum pricing is the wrong weapon with which to tackle binge drinking and alcoholism among the minority.
Yet still the industry is under threat, with Cameron determined, he says, to crack down on cheap supermarket booze and the chancellor now rumoured to be planning an assault using taxation rather than regulation.
The result, for the cash-strapped British consumer, is surely the same thing: alcohol is going to cost more.
The government has realised it’s got it badly wrong on minimum pricing. Now it’s time for a complete rethink, not an on-the-hoof change of direction to get it off the hook. .
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