Six out of seven significant supermarkets have been discovered to be promoting alcohol at up to 12% beneath expense in a 2008 Competitors Commission examine. Photograph: David Sillitoe
The government is to ban the sale of ultra-inexpensive alcohol in England and Wales, the House Office has announced.
Ministers hope the move, which will come into force on six April, will end the worst instances of deep discounting, which has resulted in cans of lager becoming sold far more cheaply than water in supermarkets.
An official impact evaluation says that the ban on sales of alcohol at below price, defined as duty plus VAT, will indicate an ordinary 440ml can of beer or lager can’t be offered beneath 50p.
The new “floor price” for a bottle of wine will be £2.24 a bottle of vodka or other spirits will cost a minimum of £10.sixteen.
Reduced-power beers which have an alcoholic articles of one.two% or much less will be exempt from the policy as will duty-cost-free sales on ships, aircraft and in airports.
Health campaigners accused ministers of buckling to pressure from the drinks industry final July when they rejected a minimum unit cost for alcohol and a ban on multi-get promotions.
The Alcohol Well being Alliance, which includes the healthcare royal schools, warned that the effect of the alternative ban on marketing at below duty plus VAT would be negligible.
The House Office’s affect evaluation published on Tuesday acknowledges that the move is only very likely to hit 1.3% of all alcohol product sales, mainly in supermarkets, but says that this amounts to income of 220m litres a 12 months.
An explanatory memorandum alongside the parliamentary order introducing the ban says that the “government is committed to making certain the worst instances of low-cost alcohol are banned from sale”.
Ministers insist that under-cost marketing is a real concern, with 6 out of seven significant supermarkets located to be marketing alcohol at up to 12% below cost in a 2008 Competition Commission study.
They also level to expanding evidence of “pre-loading” with two-thirds of younger folks who have been arrested for alcohol-relevant crime and disorder in one particular English city admitting to have “tanked up” with low-cost supermarket booze before going out.
The official impact evaluation estimates that the move will lead to savings of £5.3m a year in well being benefits and £3.6m in crime savings. Yearly expenses are put at £5.3m such as lost duty and VAT income and enforcement charges.
The ban will be imposed by introducing a mandatory licensing situation on all people who promote alcohol, such as small off-licenses. Official say they do not assume revenue from outdoors England and Wales via the internet to be a considerable situation but will maintain it underneath evaluation.
Sale of ultra-low-cost alcohol to be banned in England and Wales
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