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Tory tax on cheap drink to stop 'binge Britain' louts
Paul Waugh, Deputy Political Editor7 Oct 2009
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A Tory government will declare war on “binge Britain” with taxes to tackle cheap drink and a crackdown on late-night licensing, it was revealed today.
Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling unveiled plans to impose a new “alco-tax” levy on any retailer selling drinks after 10.30pm, which could effectively impose a curfew on sales.
To combat drink-fuelled violence, councils will also be given tough powers to revoke licences of corner shops and takeaway outlets that become a magnet for yobs.
Mr Grayling delighted the Tory conference by putting the fight against binge-drinking and anti-social behaviour at the heart of his party's law and order changes. The Conservatives say Labour's shift to a 24-hour drinking culture has left police fighting a constant battle against alcohol-related yobbery, leaving them overstretched to tackle other crime.
They estimate that there were more than 30 million acts of anti-social behaviour in Britain last year. Among the measures outlined today were:
Tax rises on alcopops, strong beer and strong cider. A four-pack of super-strength beer will be £1.33 more expensive and a large bottle of alcopops will be up to £1.50 dearer.
Supermarkets and other retailers will be banned from selling alcohol below cost price.
New council and police powers to curb late licences awarded to shops and takeaways.
A “late-night levy” on off-licences that stay open beyond 10.30pm or pubs that stay open after midnight.
The party will treble duty on alcopops and more than double the tax on super-strength cider. In total, they estimate the changes will raise £80 million in revenues, which can support community pubs and encourage responsible drinking.
Gordon Brown tried last week to reverse some of the damage caused by Tony Blair's move towards a Continental-style drink culture.
He outlined moves to enable councils to suspend 24-hour licensing where it was linked to anti-social behaviour.
The Tories say a much tougher approach is needed. Mr Grayling said: “Labour have utterly failed to get a grip on the alcohol-fuelled crime and disorder that plagues our streets. We are sending a clear signal that a Conservative government will take real action.”
The Tories say current rules on levying charges on problem retailers are bureaucratic. They will create a simple system to allow town halls to force licensed premises that open late at night to make a contribution to the cost of policing and cleaning up the area.
Police will also be given a much stronger veto over any planning application they fear will lead to a rise in crime and disorder.
Last year, there were 973,000 violent attacks where the offender was under the influence of alcohol.
The Tories say the Home Office's own reviews have shown rising levels of criminal damage under the new licensing laws, with big increases in offences in the evening and through the night.
Reader views (37)
Yea they introduced extras taxs in australia to stop binge drinking.Of course it doesnt work but the government makes loads of money . In fact the tax worked so badly they are now going to make people drink from plastic cups to stem the violence.Plastic cups plastic shopping bags what about the planet .Never mind they will invent a new tax .
- Pop Goes The Government Purse, australia, 08/10/2009 02:10
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If only they just gave the Police enough money to do their job (a) we wouldn't be in this mess and (b) wouldn't need some hair-brained tax to 'stop' bingeing.
- Pork Scratcher, Essex, 08/10/2009 02:01
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I am a UK xpat & live & work in Germany now . Booze here is cheap and plentiful , but we never see these scenes of drunken lads & ladettes in the street . Maybe at Karnival we see drunken folk , but all jolly , and hardly ever any police intervention is required . Whats wrong with UK ? Its not the availability of cheap supermarket booze , that needs to be taxed , its more like social issues that need to be dealt with by future governments ( we will skip the present government , as soon it will rightly become history) .
Too many people with no hopes and aspirations in life . However, I see these news pics , and I dont believe they do the general British public justice . There must be decent people left in Britain . Why dont the news concentrate on the good events & people that constitute the majority of British folk ? and not a tiny minority that give us poor world press !!
- Chris, Cologne , Germany, 08/10/2009 00:34
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MPs are xempt from tax in their privileged bars in the commons. This is a tax to make up for something dropped as a bribe. Its the Tory way.Remember the escalation tax on fuel which Labour removed.
T H Leeds
- Thomas Hayes, Leeds UK, 07/10/2009 19:53
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Its been tried before and failed. The only way is to turn on the fire hoses and wash away the detritus with the other street rubbish. A good soaking will sober up the lads and ladettes.
- Dhan Raj, Basildon, 07/10/2009 19:49
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This will be a stealth tax using the excuse of curbing binge drinking. Had the Labour introduced it then the Tories would have seized on it to call it a stealth tax. Dont ever trust Tories to play straight.
T H Leeds
- Thomas Hayes, Leeds UK, 07/10/2009 19:38
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Yes let them eat cake and get some fine brief interventions old chap.
- Mary, england, 07/10/2009 19:01
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The people who get smashed will still get smashed. They drink all day and drink all night because they don't have to go to work.
This move will simply penalise the moderate drinker who has to shop when he or she is not at work.
The bingers will stock up during the day.
- David Short, Tunis, Tunisia, 07/10/2009 18:04
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All this extra tax is going to drive me to drink!
- Richard, LONDON, 07/10/2009 16:57
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I'm sure, Keith, it will be so taxed, as will the Champers the Labour guzzlers drink at their party conference.
After the recent "expenses" fiasco, I doubt any party can take the high moral ground, particularly the Labour party whose higher echelons were involved. So, your comment, though doubtless meant in jest, betrays a degree of inverted snobbery.
- Captain Black Of The Mysterons, London, England, 07/10/2009 16:30
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I hope Cameron's champers gets taxed just as heavily
- Keith Price, Luton England, 07/10/2009 16:08
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Pete of Banstead. I think it is the degree of bing drinking that is the problem; you didn't see young women in pubs the way you do now back in the 60's. I also think that it existed well before the relaxation of licensing hours but obviously that must have had some effect, and probably the opposite of what the government surmised it would be.
I think a law that moves people of off the street from drinking might assist in controlling crowds. I also think that if it is accepted that the "up to 24 hours" has not assisted, we should go back to more limited drinking hours. At least in that way a problem that could start at 1 or 2 in the morning might be resolved by 11 and everyone could go home to bed. Whether someone takes 2 hours or 4 to consume a certain amount of alcohol isn't going to stop them doing so but they may not be on the streets doing so.
If it can be established that the sale at a lower value has led to anti-social behaviour and the retailer warned about selling it to people who have been identified as being guilty of ani-social behaviour, the continued sale should result in the loss of the licence to sell alcohol. It may be difficult to Police but a way must be found.
- Captain Black Of The Mysterons, London, England, 07/10/2009 15:56
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Does it really matter who wins the next election.TWEEDLE DEE or DWEEDLE DUMB,either way,the working class loose,the rich win and the middle class still carry on like they are better than everyone else.
- David, london, 07/10/2009 15:23
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My God,every time they announce another policy, I see another few hundred thousand votes go down the drain.
- Sara Johnson Snell, Kentish Town, 07/10/2009 14:50
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The retailers need to be hit, and hit hard. They have shown themselves to be completely irresponsible and profit driven and bear a huge responsibility for the situation as it is at the moment.
- James Baker, Bromley, 07/10/2009 13:49
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Tax is not the answer in a nation taxed to the max.
- Dirk Diggler, Soho, London, 07/10/2009 13:45
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the minimum price will not effect people earning£25,000pa and above or is there no binge drinkers earning that.also how long will the minimum price remain at say forty pence a unit.the most expensive countries in europe finland and norway have the worst alcohol problems.i can only conclude this is just prohibition by price.
- John Mckim, glasgow.uk, 07/10/2009 13:34
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Unfortunately there IS a glaring flaw "levy on any retailer selling drinks after 10.30pm,". It’s easy, you buy before 10:30 and ask for the drinks to be delivered later. Effectively this is a means of the landlord calling time. No If there was law that said that pubs must be empty of customers by say, 23:15 that may work a little better.
Unfortunately the tax does not help the poor pensioners that cannot get work and have little in life left to them apart from drinking their troubles away. Unfortunately this tax, especially on loss leaders, will have an impact upon the increasingly poor pensioner (or just the elderly if the pensions go up to 66)
- Jenny, London - The Centre of the Thinking Peoples Universe, 07/10/2009 13:10
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A rarely drink, and I am generally in line with Conservative. However this proposal if true highlights why the greater majority of us think our politicians are not only democratically deficient but actually seriously dumb.
The vast majority of people in the country do not at any time binge drink, yet we have a Political Party here saying they wish to tax them harder in the misguided belief that it will reduce binge drinking by others.
Excessive drinking is a social problem, probably due to having had to endure the absolute rule and intrusion control over everyone’s life by an obsessive Gordon Brown and his party. If the Conservatives are going to give us more of the same, they are not the party to vote for, no matter how desperate we are to get rid of Brown. Would now someone that believes in democracy stand up to be voted for!
- Ian, Reading, England, 07/10/2009 13:05
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A cultural attitude shift similar to that towards smoking will reduce binge drinking. A look at how that was achieved might provide some answers to this problem.
The population should be given an awareness of the social burden and the physical consequences of binge-drinking. It won't do away with it altogether, but a good information campaign may help.
- France, Canada, 07/10/2009 13:01
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Don't worry Melvyn, they won't be taxing chips, so the one on your shoulder is safe.
- Kevin T, Beckenham, Kent, 07/10/2009 12:55
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To Captain Black Of The Mysterons, London, England.
The first point of reference should be who decides and under what circumstances does binge drinking become a real social problem, I'm sure such alcohol abuse has existed for many before the latest outcry?. Secondly, there already sufficient laws to deal with people who drink to much in public places, then go on to behave in a violent and aggressive manner. If the police and Local Authorities used their legal powers to the full that at least would go some way towards curbing binge drinking in public places. It also seems to me that this phenomena only became a real problem following the relaxation of the Licensing Laws that allowed all types of unsuitable outlets to sell alcohol and permitted 24 hour drinking across the UK. One way to reduce binge drinking could be to restrict the sale of alcohol to specific outlets only.
- Pete, Banstead, Surrey, 07/10/2009 12:50
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It's the NANNY STATE.
- Anthony, Esher, Surrey, 07/10/2009 12:49
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Priceless that they announce this on the day that the TV shows conference delegates knocking back the champagne at 7AM having been on it all night.
How come I don't hear Tories whinging on about another "stealth tax".
If you're going to bang up tax on alcohol you have to do it on all of it - any more expensive and the yobs will be getting lashed on Bollinger - Oh silly me, I already mentioned them at the beginning.
- Barry, Welwyn England, 07/10/2009 12:47
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Paddy is right. Also the relaxation of drinking hours was never the problem. Restricted hours suits the police because they like to get the crowds kettled and controlled but that is all part of the issue and has been seen to cause as many problems as it solves. Like prohibition, restricted drinking hours fueled the culture and led to trouble at closing time.
- Stuz Graz, Wimbledon, London, 07/10/2009 12:23
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This is what the SNP government is doing in Scotland.
- Jkr, Glasgow Scotland, 07/10/2009 11:58
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Do as we say, rather than as one does one's self
Yet more surreptitiousness tax's being introduced to help us save ourselves, I really hoped kicking out labour would kill these big brother tax scheme which only really harm the poor. A fine example of Tory spin doctors in action and a sign of the future. Reduce the police, refuse to lock up offenders and blame the bottle. The failure of all governments to create a fully integrated understanding of all the elements of society and formulate a plan which crosses different minister's boundaries is required rather than different ministers pulling against each other and creating madcap headlines each day, we are being governed by sun headline writers rather than people who can work to repair broken Britain. Most people need a drink because of the mess this country is in, created by those ruling classes supping bottle upon Bottle of chateau nuf de pap at our expense in the houses of Westminster.
- Gary, Brentwood, 07/10/2009 11:49
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Okay, I agree that the proposal has serious deficiencies but instead of slagging it off, how about some of you saying how you'd tackle binge drinking. Wouldn't that be far more productive?
- Captain Black Of The Mysterons, London, England, 07/10/2009 11:48
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Well wont affect this load of Champagne Charlies!!
They need some bubbly for their Inheritence Tax celebrations and Bank Shareholders meetings!!
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 07/10/2009 11:28
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Politicians answer to everything,TAX IT.Airplane polution,TAX IT,smoking health issue,TAX IT,booze problems,TAX IT.
- Dave, london, 07/10/2009 11:25
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Darn, as if the prospect of a Tory government weren't already enough to drive me to drink.
- Europhile, london, uk, 07/10/2009 11:08
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Tax the majority of sensible drinkers - do they think that we are stupid !!
- Grim Reaper, Hell, 07/10/2009 11:01
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let's not fix the problems with society that turns people to binge drinking, just tax everyone more and hope it works. if it doesn't, at least the government will have more money to spend on wars.
Great idea!!!
- Amir, Lonodn, 07/10/2009 11:00
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But Paul you are already paying about 45pence duty per bottle over still-wine rates for the bubbles,and that's before the extra VAT.
- Martyn L, Kingston, 07/10/2009 10:58
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Even the Tories have failed to realise that just by taxing alcohol will not cure the culture of binge drinking amongst teenagers. All it will do is force more pubs to close, create further unemployment amongst those in the drinks and leisure industry, and still the binge drinking will go on. Most of those who binge drink in the part of South London where I live do not get their alcohol from licensed retailers or off licences, they get it from organised gangs who make a living by 'popping' over to the European mainland purchasing it cheaply then selling it on at much lower prices than normal retailers can, and with no questions asked about the age of the purchaser or where the cash is coming from to buy it. The only thing that further taxation will do is drive the legitimate alcohol outlets out of business whilst at the same time create a further surge for blackmarket alcohol. It is just another form of prohibition that spectacularly failed in the US during the 1920s and 1930s but which created a huge industry of criminal activity in 'bootlegged' alcohol.
- Paddy, Croydon Uk, 07/10/2009 10:50
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Will the same new laws also apply in the heavily-subsidised bars littering up the House of Conmen?
- Reuben Camara, Morecambe Compound, EUSSR, 07/10/2009 10:32
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Good, they left the champagne alone.
- Paul B, London, 07/10/2009 10:03
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