At last, Gordon talks sense
In all the extensive and exhaustive debate raging this week over minimum pricing, there was one phrase that really caught the ear and it came from the Prime Minister himself.
Turning down the idea, he said it was not a good way to tackle alcohol abuse "because we do not want the responsible sensible majority of moderate drinkers to suffer as a result of the excesses of a small minority."
Wow! Hosanna! Hurrah! That's a real Damascene moment, and one the pub trade has been waiting to hear from on high for a very long time. As we know to our cost, for years now, punitive measures have been piled on sensible and responsible pubs just so that a few rogue licensees or suppliers could be tackled. Thousands of licensees' lives have been made more difficult as a result of police and local authority clampdowns that should have been targeted at just a few pubs rather than everyone.
In the process, the pub trade's reputation has been besmirched intolerably — all because the Government chose to use a blunderbuss when it could have so much more sensibly used its existing powers to stamp out the trouble makers.
That phrase "the sensible majority of moderate drinkers" should be one we use time and time again to help the pub trade stave off further heavy-handed measures aimed at cracking down on the idiots who mis-sell alcohol.
Brown was right to think that way when it came to minimum pricing because the idea itself is potentially dangerous for pubs. Not now, perhaps, but in a few years time, when Government will be tempted to raise the 50p-a-unit levy to 60p or eventually a pound — and then it will start to hit pubs.
Yes, the problem of supermarket pricing needs to be tackled — but offering a hostage to fortune by letting Government dictate prices smacks of dangerous state control of the drinks sector. We want less political interference, not more.
Far better to force Government to consider a way round the EC's ban on differing Vat rates for alcohol. A reduced duty rate for draught beer would clearly benefit pubs. And so would reduced Vat for on-trade sales. Furthermore, a zero duty rate for lower strength products would stimulate the market for this style of beer.
The British Beer & Pub Association has made these points to the Treasury, and we all need to keep up the pressure in the countdown to Budget Day on 22 April. The 3.2% fall in alcohol consumption last year shows we are not the hard-drinking nation of tabloid myth. And that higher taxes are no answer to binge drinking.
Cask Ale week is from 6 to 13 April. What are you doing about this amazing opportunity to drive profits? Click on www.caskaleweek.co.uk to see how to join in.
