Britain's drinking culture
Chief Medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson has called for a tough crackdown on cheap alcohol, claiming that our country has a drinking problem.
In his annual report addressing the nation’s health, he wrote: "Alcohol is harming society. Alcohol is not simply a problem for the minority who are dependent on it – it is a problem for everybody."
He proposed to set a minimum price for alcohol (50p a unit) making it more expensive to buy, but Gordon Brown dismissed the idea saying that it wasn’t fair on moderate drinkers.
The Government also warned that any increase in alcohol prices would not go down well with people struggling to cope with their finances as a result of the recession.
Donaldson said that bumping up the cost of booze would bring about significant changes including 3,393 fewer deaths each year, 97,900 fewer hospital admissions and 45,800 fewer crimes. He argued that cheap alcohol and ready availability were two main reasons why Britain is experiencing an increase in drinking and alcohol related crimes.
“Let's try and imagine a country where nobody is physically or sexually assaulted because of alcohol, let's try and imagine a country where nobody dies in an accident caused by alcohol, where no child has to cower in the corner while its mother is beaten by a drunken partner, where the streets are welcoming for all on a Saturday night and where the streets are free of urine and vomit on a Sunday morning,” he said.
If Donaldson’s persistence pays off, the proposal would see the price of all bottles of wine increased to a minimum of £4.50 and an average six-pack of lager raised to £6.00.
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