Smoke and Mirrors

So David Cameron is to announce a minimum pricing strategy for alcohol in the UK.

Fool if he thinks it's over.


Essentially this is just a way of George Osborne recouping the money he so called gave away by raising the income tax thresholds and lowering the upper limits. No Government truly reduces the tax burden on it's people they just hide it better.


Two things happen with minimum pricing:

1. People will not stop drinking but will look for ways of reducing cost, e.g. The Booze Cruise. In Sweden where alcohol is expensive it is very easy to nip across to Denmark where it is relatively cheaper! Home Brewing always rises in the UK when prices become unmanageable. The classic argument is that we're winning the war on smoking by increasing prices. Absolute nonsense nicotine is 1000 times more addictive than heroin and the rise in black market  sales of tobacco have made it HMRC's number one target due to loss of revenue to the Treasury. In reality the number of smokers in the UK has started to climb again particularly in young females. The law of supply and demand will win out over the law of the land always.


2. Young people will look to get high. In the 1980's and 90's when alcohol was relatively more expensive there is no coincidence that there was a rise in the use of drugs such as ecstacy. It is an absolute truth that the young will do it as cheaply as possibly and if drugs become relatively cheap then this will happen all over again.

The way that you win the battle against serious health damage is by serious education.

And as the alcohol industry is key to the economy of the United Kingdom then this is not going to be done!