So the long-awaited health select committee reaction to the Government’s alcohol strategy has been released, and once again the drinks industry comes in for a beating.
The press release from the health select committee can be summarised as, “You’re a bunch of irresponsible idiots,” and the poor, punch-drunk drinks industry has said, “We broadly agree with what the committee is saying.”
Of course, the alcohol industry is in an impossible bind. If it tries to defend itself by, for example, pointing out the paucity of research or substance behind some of the attacks against it, it’s open to the inevitable accusation of “Well, you would say that, wouldn’t you?”
(Frustratingly, this is an accusation that’s never levelled at the temperance lobby whenever they issue fact-free attacks on alcohol, talking up the harm it does even as Government and NHS data shows a consistent, long-term decline not only in overall alcohol consumption, but also key measures such as binge drinking, underage drinking and alcohol-related crime.)
I’ll deal with the frankly risible attack on alcohol advertising in a future column, because there’s so much to say about what utter nonsense it is.
This time though, the main talking point in the drinks industry is the intention to introduce a minimum price of 40p per unit.
It’s interesting that the select committee has reservations about it, but it looks likely to go through, and the industry’s reaction to this latest measure is… complicated.
The problem is, many people — myself included, up to a point — have broadly welcomed the notion of minimum unit pricing at the planned rate of 40p.
It will make little or no difference to pub prices, but will hit the off-trade’s swingeing price promotions.
When health ‘experts’ in national newspapers complain about ‘the drinks industry’ being steadfastly against minimum pricing, they clearly can’t even be bothered to do the most basic Google search, which returns various statements from many senior figures in the industry steadfastly in favour of it.
But minimum pricing is not about closing the gap between on and off-trade prices at all.
That’s a mere side effect of the move. Successive Governments have shown total and utter disregard for the licensed trade, and this is no sudden turnaround.
Minimum pricing is, of course, about saving lives and reducing alcohol-related harm.
And this is the problem — because on that score, the industry should be opposing it.
The only evidence that minimum pricing will have this effect is from one study conducted by Sheffield University, and it’s pretty flimsy. However, this doesn’t stop it being quoted as gospel by the entire new media, of course.
This is where the industry could do itself some credit — by not just pointing out the flaws in this approach, but by suggesting a much more effective alternative.
Alcohol abuse has little to do with price and availability. If it did, then alcohol abuse would be much more widespread, and we would see a global correlation between higher availability and lower price, and incidence of alcohol harm. No such correlation exists.
Within the UK, alcohol is most affordable to the affluent, and, indeed, the better off you are, the more likely you are to drink. And yet alcohol abuse is far more common among the poorer classes.
This is simple fact: if those who can least afford alcohol are most likely to suffer alcohol-related harm, it’s obvious to anyone who understands logic that price is not the right tool to fix the problem.
If you’ve ever lived or socialised with an alcoholic, you’ll know that alcohol is the most important thing in their lives.
Increase the price of booze and they’ll eat less, or neglect their children more, or default on their mortgage — the last thing they’ll do is stop buying booze.
Minimum pricing won’t help those people who need it most. What’s needed are measures that target the problem drinker, not society as a whole.
The drinks industry could produce robust research in this area, and it would be seen to be acting responsibly if it did so.
Of course, it’s not enough to simply say minimum pricing won’t work, so let’s do the work ourselves on finding measures that will — measures that won’t punish the responsible drinker or publican.