Wales sets out alcohol price plan

The Welsh government has published a plan to introduce a minimum unit price of 50p on alcohol in Wales.

Welsh ministers say a minimum charge of 50p per unit of alcohol would save £882 million for the Welsh economy over a 20 year period by cutting crime and illness, and would result in 50 fewer deaths each year.

The law would have a “small impact” on moderate drinkers, according to Wales’ deputy health minister Vaughan Gething, and instead largely affect heavy drinkers.

“Minimum unit pricing will affect those drinks sold at an unacceptably low prices relative to their alcohol content,” said Gething of the proposed measures.

“This is a particularly well-targeted measure as it will only have a small impact on moderate drinkers and have the biggest impact on high-risk drinkers.”

Despite claims that minimum pricing would cut alcohol-related deaths and save millions Miles Beale, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, said the changes would “unfairly ramp up the cost of over half of the drinks on supermarket shelves and hit Welsh drinkers with at least £55m extra on their drinks bill while doing nothing to tackle alcohol harm.”

“It is entirely wrong that responsible consumers in Wales should be punished for the actions of an irresponsible few,” he said.

“The substantial cost of implementation and enforcement, as well as the risk of losing shoppers across the border, is likely to hit Welsh businesses and jobs and the UK Treasury is set to lose out in £11m in revenues directly.

“Additionally, there are serious questions about the legality of such a move. Not only is Minimum Pricing being challenged in the European Courts, there is a question over whether the Assembly will be allowed to fix prices in a competitive market when this is entirely contrary to UK Competition Law”.

Ireland agreed to minimum alcohol pricing earlier this year after it declared a public health emergency. Outlawing cheap alcohol, the changes, which were due to come into affect this summer, mean that a bottle of wine could not be legally sold in Ireland for less than €8.80 and a can of beer for €2.20.

In the UK, a ban on selling alcohol at “below cost” was introduced in April 2014, which fell short of introducing a blanket minimum price on alcohol units. A minimum alcohol unit price was considered in 2012 but rejected in 2013 on the basis that there was not enough evidence that it would be effective in reducing harm.

Early this year, a group of doctors renewed calls for minimum alcohol pricing urging the UK government to consider a 50p minimum unit price for alcohol to tackle the country’s “impact of excessive alcohol consumption”.

The Welsh consultation on minimum alcohol pricing will run until December 2015, with members of the public invited to share their views on the draft Public Health (Minimum Price for Alcohol) (Wales) Bill.