Wednesday 1 August 2012

Reponse to HoC committee on alcohol

On behalf of the Institute of Economic Affairs, I responded to the House of Commons Health Select Committee regarding the government's alcohol strategy. This is the consultation which asked about minimum pricing and plain packaging, amongst other things. A sample...

As regards raising the drinking age, lowering the strength of alcoholic drinks, banning advertising and mandating plain packaging, these are all policies entirely at odds with the principles of a free society. Drinking alcohol is an adult pastime and those who are 18 and over should not be prohibited from engaging in it and have a right to know which products are available. Plain packaging, like minimum pricing, would be a serious infringement of commercial freedom which would likely violate a number of free trade agreements to which the UK is a signatory. We find it troubling and scarcely believable that the government is contemplating creating a country in which bureaucrats not only set the price of products but also design their packaging.

If you're interested, you can read it in full here. The list of all respondents is here.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear Mr Snowdon

Is this the same health select committee that thinks plain packaging for cigarettes is OK?

Or a different one entirely?

If the latter, perhaps the other one could be invited to take note of their comments as quoted by your good self.

DP

Jonathan Bagley said...

Interesting that Waitrose is the only supermarket to support MPU. That explains why there are none near where I live. I'll stick to Lidl.

Curmudgeon said...

"Interesting that Waitrose is the only supermarket to support MPU"

Proves it's basically a snobs' policy to do down the poor.