Pub bosses warned to expect minimum alcohol pricing

Labour figure warned industry ‘to get its act together’ to tackle harms of drinking, say sources

Pub bosses have been warned ministers could bring in minimum alcohol pricing as part of the Government’s public health drive, sources have told The Telegraph.
Industry insiders said they had been privately told the policy could be on the table if they do not take more action to tackle the harms of alcohol.
A government spokesman insisted there were no plans to introduce the measure and said: “We have no plans to introduce minimum unit pricing for alcohol.”
It comes after a minister suggested that Labour was planning more public health measures on the back of its plans to ban smoking in beer gardens.
The Telegraph has been told a senior government figure floated minimum pricing at an industry event held shortly before the election.
A source said that the person told one business representative the industry needed to “get its act together” or face the prospect of government intervention.
The senior figure in the brewing industry claimed that the Government figure pointed to action by soft drinks producers, who cut the sugar in their products ahead of the introduction of the sugar tax in 2018.
“They said that following suit would be something he would urge,” the source added.
Labour figures have previously refused to rule out the possibility of bringing in minimum unit pricing, which is already in force in Scotland and Wales.
The policy was introduced by the SNP government in 2018 and it applies to shops and supermarkets as well as pubs, clubs and restaurants.
The minimum price per unit of alcohol sold is going up from 50p to 65p from this September, although critics have questioned if the measure has had any impact.
Wales, which is run by Labour, followed suit two years later, while the Northern Irish assembly has also consulted on plans to bring in the measure.
One industry source said that ministers had been quiet on introducing the policy in England but there was “always a risk that they look to alcohol” as part of their health drive.
“We wouldn’t want to see it introduced in the rest of the UK, we don’t think it’s had a demonstrable effect in Scotland,” they said.
Another said that Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, was “known to be pro” the policy.
While in opposition, Mr Streeting said that the introduction of minimum pricing in Scotland made a “positive case” for the idea.
He told a Parliamentary debate in 2020: “We have already heard the positive case from Scotland, and there is an active campaign for it.
“It would be useful for all of us involved in policy-making if the Treasury review looked at the merits and the arguments against so that Parliament can make informed decisions.”
When asked by the BBC last May whether he would introduce the policy, he said that in government he would look at “a range of measures”.
He said: “We want to make sure that we’re not just living longer but living more healthily for longer. And that does mean doing everything we can to tackle what are known as the social determinants of ill health as well as those factors that impact on things like chronic disease.”
Andrew Gwynne, the minister for public health, has also issued warnings to the drinks industry that Labour will take an interventionist approach.
In a speech to the Alcohol Health Alliance last summer, while still a shadow minister, he said: “I’ve made no secret of the fact that I want the industry to do better.
“I’ve issued this warning directly to them already. We are considering a wide range of different interventions.
“They should be working now to tackle the harm caused by alcohol misuse but if they don’t shift the next Labour government will make them shift.”
Labour’s mission on health, published before the election, accused previous Tory governments of an “unwillingness to lead on issues like…alcohol harm”.
On Friday a minister suggested that the Government was considering further public health interventions in the wake of the plans to ban outdoor smoking.
Asked if the Government intended to take action against other unhealthy behaviour such as obesity, Jacqui Smith said: “Actually, what this is, is it’s support for people to be able to live healthy lives.
“It’s support for people to be able to get into the workplace.”
She added: “We want the economy to be growing. We want healthy people able to go into the workplace.
“That strikes me as being the type of thing that perhaps you would expect a government to be doing and I’m pleased that those are the things that we are in the very early days of our Government putting into place.”