Beda blasts alcohol recommendations
The Bar Entertainment and Dance Association has lambasted a bioethics group for not consulting the trade before making proposals.
A report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, released yesterday, called for an increase in drinks price, restricted opening hours and for drinks producers to take more responsibility for reducing alcohol-related harm.
"It serves no useful purpose that I can see for the Nuffield Council on Bioethics to foster such a confrontational approach without any prior attempt to engage with the licensed trade," blasted Beda executive director Paul Smith (pictured).
There is patently some unhelpful political spin at work herePaul SmithBeda
"This smacks of playing political games.
"There is patently some unhelpful political spin at work here when the document talks about setting an ethical debate around public health and then goes on to make what are clearly highly political recommendations.
"It is hugely disingenuous for the Nuffield Council to give the impression they are being objective about the alcohol debate and then reaching a series of conclusions which seem to be motivated by a prohibition - not a health agenda."
The report supports calls from the Alcohol Health Alliance for a rise in taxation on alcohol.
"It fails to acknowledge that below cost selling in the off-trade makes taxation levels immaterial, since the off-trade is often absorbing the costs," added Smith.
"The only sector where this is not the case is in the on-trade - meaning that it is the on-trade, once again, which will be hit hardest."
