Coalition plans for alcohol policy changes – below cost alcohol ban by 2012

The Coalition government has published its key alcohol policy initiatives and the dates of their implementation in the Home Office Business Plan 2011-2015.

Measures on alcohol pricing to ensure it tackles ‘binge drinking’, including the option to ban below-cost sales of alcohol, have already begun to be considered, this process being completed by April 2011.

The proposals finally agreed on alcohol pricing are scheduled to be published in April 2012, with any legislation necessary to implement them introduced the following month.

The Coalition is also engaged on an overhaul of the Licensing Act. A consultation on changes to the legislation has already taken place and new legislation has been drafted. This will be introduced by means of the Police Reform and Social Responsibility Bill scheduled to be presented to Parliament in December 2010.

The Business Plan states that the new legislation will strengthen local authority and police powers to remove licences from, or refuse to grant them to, any premises that are causing problems. It will allow councils and police to shut down permanently any premises found to be persistently selling alcohol to the under-aged, and it will double the fine for under-age sales of alcohol to £20,000. The new legislation will also permit local councils to charge higher fees for late night licences to pay for additional policing.

Trade Opposition

However, it is known that a number of trade organisations have orchestrated a campaign against the Coalition’s proposals for licensing reform. The Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers has launched a well-funded LICENSING REFORM CAMPAIGN against the Coalition’s proposals, based on the claim that each one of the Coalition’s 24 original proposals for reform pose an individual threat to the trade, and that, collectively, they are an ‘unsustainable burden’.

The Association says that the proposals ‘give rise to fundamental concerns about the transfer of considerable additional power to local councils, enforcement authorities and interest groups’, such as groups of local residents.

The ALMR campaign falls into 3 distinct but overlapping phases - an initial 90 day period during which the Association sought to influence government thinking and drafting of the Bill, amending the Bill during its passage, and influencing the detail and implementation of any new powers.

The Association says that in phase 1 it sought common cause with organisations that share these concerns eg local authorities, supermarkets, police, consumer groups, leading lawyers and business interests. A high level political contact programme targeted Ministers and special advisers who could infl uence Home Offi ce thinking. The Association also plans to raise awareness with parliamentarians centrally and by means of a grass roots lobby with operators’ constituency MPs. At the same time, initial work has been undertaken on developing a PR/advertising campaign to support and reinforce political messages during the passage of the Bill.

A pump prime fund of £30,000 has been guaranteed by ALMR to initiate Phase 1 political activity.