re wine: will it push up prices in the current 10 to 20 quid bracket? there will just be an increase across the board, no?

Minimum pricing isn’t an increased tax as far as I understand. It just sets the legal minimum limit per unit. That extra cost doesn’t get passed on to the government coffers.

whitestone – Member
@Nobeer – I remember being in Dublin with work about a year after the Irish introduced a smoking ban. Even in that short period there were noticeable health benefits.

the smoking reduction looks to have been a long concerted effort

interesting the alcohol consumption graph.

i’ve always thought the pubs etc were much busier late 90s. early 2000s.

Oh, and TJ – Strongbow is ‘decent’ cider?

dunno – I don’t drink cider but surely its better than frosty jacks

I think its aimed in a few ways. Kids with a fiver who want to get drunk, binge drinkers and alcoholics. the first of those it will certainly stoip. The second maybe. Not sure it will do much for the 3rd category but it might

I a fairly sure this was well thought out plan based on research not just an bright idea / knee jerk reaction

http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Services/Alcohol/minimum-pricing

*polishes up moonshine still*

20p a unit to you mate, but you ain’t seen me, right?

That extra cost doesn’t get passed on to the government coffers.

To be completely pedantic, some of it does – VAT and Corporation Tax.

I believe there’s evidence that supermarkets are usingg cheap alcohol as a loss leader too, just to entice folk into the shop.

It probably won’t affect the serious alcoholics much – as others have said, they’ll find a way anyway. But what it will affect is the occasional alcoholics – the kids who like to get hammered on a bottle of cheap cider, the people who drink two beers a night instead of one, people like that.

A bottle of wine will be about £4.50 minimum, a bottle of whisky about £14. So if you like an occasional drink, it’ll still be possible to do that pretty cheaply. What will be more expensive is the 8% cider and the high-strength lager.

I’m looking forward to people becoming more discerning about what they think – tasting notes graffitied on park benches 😉

Wonder if it’ll cause an increase in cheap imported/smuggled alcohol?

As regards the superstength cheapo ciders – again my guess is the market for these will disappear as decent cider becomes the same price as industrial rotgut. Who would drink Frosty Jacks over say strongbow when they are the same price per unit alcohol?

They won’t be the same price. The Strongbow, and all other offerings above will increase in price to keep the perception of ‘premium’ quality.

The big losers in this will be spirits drinkers. Looking at the Tesco website, pricing is currently,
Tesco own brand gin £10 – £11.00
Gordon’s £14.50
Tanqueray £18.00
Edinburgh Gin £29.50
Now that the own brand stuff will have to be £14.00 I’d expect to see the others increase by £4.00 – £5.00 as well.

The cheap alcohol producers will put up thier prices to the shops, there not going to let the shops reap all the extra revenue especially if they are feeling the pinch of falling sales, then if they also produce more quality brands they may have to put the prices of those to meet the shortfall.

Wonder if it’ll cause an increase in cheap imported/smuggled alcohol?

Possibly, who knows, but tbh I don’t think the price hike is significant enough to warrant all that hassle.

I’m old enough to remember having to go to a special shop to buy alcohol, and a bottle of spirits was expensive enough to be a special occasion purchase.

Its too easy and cheap nowadays to just fling a bottle of voddy or two on top of the trolley at the supermarket.

I don’t think the price hike is significant enough to warrant all that hassle.

Unless you live in Gretna?

The manager of Asda in Carlisle must be excited.

They’ve practically got their own slip road to the M74.

@seosamh – smoking has been on a general decline as your graph shows. I wonder how the numbers are distributed across social classes and age groups – personal observational evidence would indicate that there’s a higher proportion in working class people and in what might be described as economically deprived areas. Older people are likely to carry on smoking as they are: a) addicted or b) probably justify it by “I’m 70 and it hasn’t done me any harm” or “what’s the point at my age?”

Imported drink? Hmm, maybe brexit can come to the rescue here (never thought I’d say that!) as the UK would be free to impose higher tariffs or lower personal allowances.

Anyone up for setting up booze cruises from Scotland to Berwick?

Oh and people don’t become alcoholics due to bad education, there is always a deep social problem in their somewhere. Sexual abuse as a child, abusive partners or other problems lead to alcohol abuse not “Oooh! I didn’t realise it was bad for me”.

You can slip into alcoholism drac it’s not always to mask som form of emotional or physical trauma

There is always a reason for an addiction chip

Oh and people don’t become alcoholics due to bad education, there is always a deep social problem in their somewhere. Sexual abuse as a child, abusive partners or other problems lead to alcohol abuse not “Oooh! I didn’t realise it was bad for me”.

Totally agree. There can also be a genetic link related to dopamine (neurotransmitter) levels in the brain and propensity towards addictive behaviours. Alcoholism can’t be explained by social and economic variables alone.

Anyone up for setting up booze cruises from Scotland to Berwick?

I live just over the border but all my supermarket shopping is done in Berwick. 🙂

Oh and people don’t become alcoholics due to bad education, there is always a deep social problem in their somewhere

Not always.

Plenty folks that don’t think they have an issue, 2 or 3 large lasses of red a night (Hey, red’s good for you, right?) I have friends ( a married couple) that don’t ever get drunk, don’t go out much, but they have 2 large vodka n cokes each, every night. I’d bet there’s about 4 pub measures in that vodka, that could easily lead to more later in life.

As I said, I’m not convinced it’ll work, but something needs to change.

lol @ ygh!

Nobeerinthefridge – Member
Wonder if it’ll cause an increase in cheap imported/smuggled alcohol?
Possibly, who knows, but tbh I don’t think the price hike is significant enough to warrant all that hassle

yes I don’t think the price hike is all that significant to make much difference. I’m not overly fussed about it tbh. Any alcohol I buy is usually above these limits, I prefer alcohol a notch above paint stripper! I do reckon everyone will see a hike regardless.

I assume this will be linked to inflation too btw, as inflation will render it completely pointless soon enough.

There can also be a genetic link related to dopamine (neurotransmitter) levels in the brain and propensity towards addictive behaviour.

There is evidence to suggest that is not true at all though.

Plenty folks that don’t think they have an issue, 2 or 3 large lasses of red a night (Hey, red’s good for you, right?) I have friends ( a married couple) that don’t ever get drunk, don’t go out much, but they have 2 large vodka n cokes each, every night. I’d bet there’s about 4 pub measures in that vodka, that could easily lead to more later in life.

Ok yes there are those that drink every night and don’t think it’s an issue but why not a large step from alcoholism it’s a big difference.

Drac – Moderator
There is always a reason for an addiction chip

guess that depends on how you define addiction.

Iceland seems to have a better way to solve the problem

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-41973296/how-one-country-persuaded-teens-to-give-up-drink-and-drugs

Ok yes there are those that drink every night and don’t think it’s an issue but why not a large step from alcoholism it’s a big difference

Surely it’s not volume dependant, but rather a dependancy? If someone only smokes 10 fags, as opposed to 60, are they not a smoker?.

TBH I think this is a good thing, rather it be a Tax levied rather some arbitrary “put prices up”

We are all too dependant on alcohol, from the two pints a week to the 4-5 bottles of red a week to the 1ltr bottle of whiskey a week.. we all drink too much.. why? Invariably to disguise some underlying issues we all have about society or relationships.

Alcohol will never go away, it’ll always be the accepted form of inebriation and Taxed according because it’s a) easy to do at source b) easy to sell and c) people love a drink. Alcoholics aren’t really those we see on park benches comatose anymore, it’s those that drive drunk to work and stumble through the day to sit on the sofa and open another bottle.

Yes, yes I’m a puritanical snob.

Wonder if it’ll cause an increase in cheap imported/smuggled alcohol?

Probably not. I think that why they’re talking of a minimum price at retail rather than slapping on more excise duty.

The booze may be smuggled but the corner shop still has to charge the minimum price. It’ll be obvious if they’re not, unless they are selling it under the counter in plain brown paper.

Upping excise duty will just mean more smuggling with no control over final price to the consumer, which is supposed to be the whole object of the exercise.

Maybe so but youre correct.

Alcohol cause a lot of harm and cost society a fortune. If increasing the price reduces that its a good thing.

Is there evidence to show that higher prices reduces alcohol addiction…?

Not sure, but you can guarantee theft will go up.

I’m old enough to remember having to go to a special shop to buy alcohol, and a bottle of spirits was expensive enough to be a special occasion purchase.

I quite like the North American system where you aren’t allowed to sell alcohol over a certain % in supermarkets, meaning you have to make a special trip to state-approved liquor stores.

Personally, I don’t think pushing the price up solves anything, it just means people who want to drink either spend more overall or go short on other things.

sweepy – Member
I’m old enough to remember having to go to a special shop to buy alcohol, and a bottle of spirits was expensive enough to be a special occasion purchase.

Me too. That graph basically shows a doubling of alcohol consumption since those days.

I’m happy to see this. I think it will hit the binge drinking culture which has grown up amongst young folk, and that can only be good.

Alcoholics will be alcoholics, and no legislation will stop them.

Is there evidence to show that higher prices reduces alcohol addiction…?

Seems to be from the scottish gov link I provided to their reasoning for this. I dint read the research to see if it looked decent quality but its clear this is a well thought out policy based at least on some evidence

Binge culture in Scotland/UK has to end. If this helps then I’m all for it. Unsure it’ll do anything for those committed drinkers/addicts as they’ll always find a way whether it’s spending less on other things to afford the booze or just stealing it.

Wine generally £5/btl minimum most of the time and the 12 pack of Corona 😳 I bought at the weekend was a tenner in Tesco. 1.7 units in a 330ml bottle, so will become £10.20 to comply.

Then They should make the pubs and bars landlords responsible for having drunk people on there premises like they used to be and then they would not serve people who were already legless then turning them out on the streets to be a problem for our struggling police forces and nhs

Whilst pub drinkers are not completely without fault, the majority of “problem” drinkers are drinking stuff bought at the supermarket whilst at home. You’ll struggle to find a pub that will trouble these minimum prices, certainly without taking into account offers which are easily stopped.

We are all too dependant on alcohol, from the two pints a week to the 4-5 bottles of red a week to the 1ltr bottle of whiskey a week.. we all drink too much.. why? Invariably to disguise some underlying issues we all have about society or relationships.

Really? I probably drink too much, but only because I enjoy it! I’m pretty sure it’s nothing to do with issues with my relationships or with society.

As for whether higher prices for cheap high alcoholic drinks, it will simply make it more difficult for people to afford it, so its a step.

Apparently we spend £3 billion pounds in Scotland treating the effects of alcohol

England also spends £3 billion pounds on the same treatment

The key difference being our population is 1/10th of England’s 😯

Be careful what you infer from those figures…

Sounds like Scotland are maybe funding the problem where as England aren’t.