Affordability And Availability Of Alcohol And Alcohol-Related Harm

EDM number 2264 in 2010-12, proposed by Caroline Lucas on 18/10/2011.
Categorised under the topics of Alcoholism and Health education and preventive medicine.

That this House believes there is a link between alcohol-related harm and the availability and affordability of alcohol; further believes that urgent action is needed to reduce the assaults, noise and ill health that result from over-consumption of alcohol; notes that the cost to the economy of lost productivity at work, together with the bill for criminal justice and health, are a vast burden on the budgets of local authorities and on public services; welcomes the Big Alcohol Debate in Brighton to address the 100 million annual bill the city currently faces from the impact of over-consumption of alcohol; supports reducing the affordability of alcohol in off-licences and supermarkets to tackle the problem of `pre-loading' on cheap drink before a night out; further notes the Guardian newspaper investigation published on 16 February 2011 that showed that on 4,000 price promotions just one of them would be affected by the Goverment's policy to bar selling alcohol below the rate of duty and VAT; therefore considers Government policy ineffective; and urges the Chancellor to report to Parliament on the potential for taking further steps, including the options of minimum pricing and of a differentialrate of VAT, higher for the retail sector and lower for the hospitality sector, to curtail retailers' ability to sell alcohol irresponsibly, whilst allowing our local pub trade to thrive.

This motion has been signed by a total of 15 MPs.