Anger at weak minimum pricing policy

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has criticised the UK government for not going far enough with its minimum pricing policy, which was announced today.

The group claims the decision to ban alcohol sales below 47 pence per pint – the combined cost of excise duty and VAT – will have “virtually no impact” on aggressive supermarket beer discounts, while doing nothing to alleviate the rising prices forced on pubs.

CAMRA believes that for minimum pricing to have any meaningful impact, legislation also needs to factor in the cost of producing alcohol. For beer it calculates this would result in a minimum price of 40p per unit, equivalent to double the limit currently proposed.

Mike Benner, CAMRA’s chief executive, remarked: “Today’s decision means pubs will continue to close as they are undercut by supermarkets selling canned beers at pocket money prices.

“A ban on selling beer at below duty plus VAT will have a negligible impact as supermarkets sell only a tiny proportion of beer at below these levels.”

After CAMRA’s support for manifesto commitments by both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties to impose a ban on below cost alcohol sales, Benner blasted: “The government’s decision to set a floor price of only 21p a unit is a betrayal of their previous promise to ban the sale of alcohol at below cost and means supermarkets will continue to be able to sell alcohol as a loss leader.”

Trevor Watson, director at leisure property specialists Davis Coffer Lyons, said the new regulations will be barely noticeable to the public and added his view that the government has failed in its attempts to ban below-cost selling.

“Today’s government proposals on minimum pricing of alcohol seem to achieve absolutely nothing," he said. "The proposed rates are so low that they will have absolutely no effect on the disparity of pricing between supermarkets and the on-trade. I don’t suppose the man in the street will even notice any change in prices.
 
"The original intention was to introduce a ban on supermarkets selling alcohol at below cost price. This has been replaced with a minimum price, which is set at the cost of duty plus VAT.

"Somehow the government has overlooked all the real costs of production and distribution, ingredients, manufacture, wages, plant and machinery, advertising, etc all of which are on the increase.
 
"Minimum pricing is a major opportunity for the government to endorse its stated strategy of supporting pubs in the community. At the proposed levels, there will be absolutely no redistribution of the consumption of alcohol between the on- and the off-trades.
 
"This is a missed opportunity to really make an impact on our society and help support an industry which is unloved by government but which is very much loved by our citizens.”

Gabriel Savage, 18.01.2011