Liver specialist calls for minimum charge for alcohol
Sep 29 2009 The Journal
FAMILIES are being forced to pay more for everyday essentials to subsidise supermarkets selling cut-price alcohol, a leading doctor claims.
Dr Chris Record, a liver specialist who works at Newcastle University, said alcohol should be set at a minimum price of 50p per unit to tackle the UK’s drinking problem.
Families in Britain “have nothing to fear” from a 50p per unit minimum price, he said, writing in the journal Clinical Medicine, from the Royal College of Physicians.
“The overall effect should be a reduction in average weekly supermarket bills for the majority while harmful and hazardous drinkers will pay more,” he wrote.
It comes after the Scottish government published research showing that charging a minimum price for alcohol could save £950m over 10 years.
Hospital admissions could be cut and alcohol-related deaths could fall by 3,600 a year.
A 40p per unit level would cost a moderate drinker £11 extra a year but a heavy drinker £137 a year, according to the study.
Dr Record said discounting of alcohol was “universal” in UK supermarkets.
He said 80% of alcohol purchases are made by 30% of the population who are “the main beneficiaries”. He went on: “Some supermarkets sell alcohol during promotions for as little as 11p per UK unit (10ml 100% alcohol) and own-brand spirits are often sold for less than the excise duty and value added tax (VAT) payable.
“Such discounting can only be financed by raising prices and thus profitability of the food and non-alcoholic drinks sold.”
Dr Record said the public expects alcohol to be on promotion at their local supermarket and are “under the misconception that they are benefiting”.
