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Saturday, 19th December 2009

Only cheapest booze hit by pricing plans

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Published Date: 05 November 2009
By EDDIE BARNES
A SCOTTISH Government survey of drink prices has shown that minimum pricing will target cheap, high-strength products while leaving others untouched.
For example, a bottle of the Famous Grouse, one of the cheapest branded whiskies on the supermarket shelves, would stay at £12, because the minimum price for a bottle containing drinks at 40 per cent alcohol by volume (ABV) is set at £11.20.

Those whiskies which would increase to that level would be supermarket brands such as Asda's High Commissioner, which would go up from £8.98 to £11.20.

Other spirits, such as cheap vodka, would also rise in price – for example, from the current £6.98 to a minimum of £10.50.

Bottles of strong cider would be among the hardest hit by the policy.

A Tesco two-litre bottle of value dry cider, with 4.2 per cent alcohol, currently sells at £1.21, but would increase to £3.36, a rise of 177 per cent. Wine would be largely untouched.





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  • Last Updated: 04 November 2009 9:39 PM
  • Source: The Scotsman
  • Location: Edinburgh
  • Related Topics: Alcohol & binge drinking
 
1

Brianwci,

05/11/2009 00:42:28
Oooops, looks the SNP is right again, much to the chagrin of the Barking Brit Nats.
2

Alternative (High-Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 05/11/2009 11:10:20
There are two ways that they could impliment this. Firstly, they could require retailers to push up the prices of the drinks in question to ensure that they meet the minimum prices per unit. In that case, who gets the profit? The retailer of course. this approach would be against EU law.

The second way is to levy duty per unit to ensure that a minumum price is maintained. This would entail a detail study and the setting of unit duty on the basis of not only the type of drink, but the actual BRAND of drink. This is a mammoth task in anyone's language and would cost an enormous amount of time and money to impliment. It would also need to be revised at regular intervals to take account of new or discontinued brands and would typically be very easy for retailers and manufacturers to circumvent.

This would also have to tie in with UK alcohol duty which would further complicate the process. The alternative would be to introduce unit-based duty across the board which would put the prices up across the board. No doubt in the future, the rate would be surruptitiously increased as well.

DO NOT BELIEVE THE LIES YOU ARE BEING TOLD BY THIS GOVERNMENT. WE WILL ALL SUFFER. THIS CRZY LEGISLATION MUST NEVER MAKE IT TO THE STATUTE BOOKS.
3

english charlie,

05/11/2009 11:38:27
The higher the price of a product, the more VAT is payable. meaning more money to the Government.
Even coffee can affect ones health if too much is drunk. Should the Government increase the price of coffee just because a few drink too much?
4

Alternative (High-Octane) Fuel Head,

Edinburgh 05/11/2009 12:12:17
Charlie,

What I cannot understand is why people support this madness. I mean, they are effectively complaining because prices are TOO LOW.

How categorically stupid is that?

To all those who are supporting an increase in the price of drink, fine. No problem with that. When you buy your drink, pay the price advertised in the shop, then send the difference between what you actually pay and what you think you SHOULD be paying in a postal order to a PO Box that I will set up in the near future.

That way you will be happy because drink will effectively be costing you more. I will be happy because I will be making money and everyone else will be happy because they will be unaffected. Seems like a good scheme to me!
5

Gdgy,

05/11/2009 15:30:43
#1 So is the Hootsmon showing bias for the SNP in this case?
#3 how much coffee do you have to drink to cause ill-health?
6

english charlie,

05/11/2009 16:37:37
#5. That would vary from person to person, but drinking caffine, say on an hourly basis, can produce withdrawals symptoms and even panic attacks.

 

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