Wine Business International

The middle of August has heralded an uneasy truce in the British war on alcohol. Politicians have disappeared to spend more time with their families. Anyone in the media who can claim any remote link with sport has flown off to Beijing and the Olympics.

Before the holiday season intervened, the UK war of words on alcohol had hotted up. There is no new anti-alcohol legislation yet, but it looks as though there will be soon. The Scottish Government led the charge with a discussion paper setting out their strategic approach to tackling alcohol misuse. A report about social attitudes to alcohol in Scotland followed at the beginning of August. Latest alcohol-related death figures in Scotland for both men and women are around double the rates for the UK as a whole, so the Scots do have a problem to address.

The list of suggested measures north of the border is a long one. To reduce alcohol consumption, they propose minimum pricing of alcoholic drinks per unit of alcohol, perhaps 35p per unit. That would make the minimum price for a 13% alcohol bottle of wine £3.41. This would be lower than the average price per bottle of around £4, but well above the £2.99 bottles some retailers still offer. They propose to end the promotion and loss-leading of alcoholic drinks by retailers, to make smaller standard servings compulsorily available in pubs, bars and restaurants, to raise the minimum legal purchase age for off-sales purchases to 21, and to charge an additional ‘social responsibility’ fee to ‘some alcohol retailers’ to help offset the costs of dealing with the adverse consequences of alcohol.

The Scottish Government also wants a reduction in the drink drive limit from 80mg to 50mg per 100ml of blood (in line with most of the rest of Europe) and the introduction of random breath testing. They also explore how best to deliver a ban on TV alcohol advertising before the 9pm watershed, and in cinemas for films with a certificate below age 18, and suggest reinstating 'alcohol only' checkouts in off-sales premises.

As well as under-18s (who are not legally allowed to buy alcohol), three groups of alcohol ‘abusers’ are targeted throughout the UK. ‘Chronic’ drinkers (who used to be described as alcoholics) are those whose drinking already threatens their physical and psychological health. ‘Binge’ drinkers (typically between 18 and 24) indulge in heavy bouts of drinking to get drunk, punctuated by periods without drinking. ‘Hazardous’ drinkers regularly drink at over both recommended daily and weekly unit limits, 15-35 units per week for women and 22-50 units for men.

It is the ‘chronic’ and ‘binge’ drinkers who make headlines with their involvement in accidents or displays of violence, both in England and Scotland. But the UK Government had a go at ‘hazardous’ drinkers last year, when it published a report on the danger posed to health by regularly drinking over the recommended daily limits. Increased dangers cited were liver and heart disease and ‘mental and behavioural’ disorders.

The debate over alcohol in Scotland, and the methods that might be used to control consumption further, are being watched with interest by the UK Government. Any significant changes north of the border may trickle south before long, and things could get even more difficult for the English wine trade. A report by consultants KPMG into the effectiveness of the drinks industry’s self-regulation, released at the end of July, accuses the industry of ignoring its own standards, particularly in the on-trade. Specific charges are that ‘in the current trading climate the commercial imperative generally overrides adherence’, and that ‘inducements to people to drink more and faster, to allow under-age people entry to restricted premises, and blatantly serving intoxicated people are evidence of this conclusion’.

The response from the UK drinks industry has been fragmented and feeble. The Alcohol Health Alliance, a coalition of medical bodies campaigning for action against ‘alcohol-related health harm’, was established in November 2007. It puts the medical profession’s point of view strongly. Unless the UK drinks industry can convince politicians it is solving the problems caused by alcohol abuse, the UK Government will bring in even more legislation to limit the promotion and sale of alcoholic drinks.