Promoting lower strength drinks

The initiative, announced by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley, is designed to reduce sales of alcohol units and is being spearheaded by 34 leading companies behind brands like Echo Falls, First Cape and Heineken. It will result in a greater choice of lower strength alcohol products and smaller measures by 2015. Key commitments include new and lighter products, innovating through existing brands and removing products from sale. They include:

• Sainsbury’s have pledged to double the sales of lighter alcohol wine and reduce the average alcohol content of own brand wine and beer by 2020

• 25 million units will be gradually removed from Accolade Wines including Echo Falls Rosé and Echo Falls White Zinfandel

• Brand Phoenix have committed to taking 50 million units of alcohol out of their wines by reducing 0.8 per cent ABV on all FirstCape full strength red wines

• Molson Coors, the UK’s largest brewer, has committed to remove 50million units by December 2015

• 100 million units will be removed by Heineken

• Own brand super-strength lager will be removed from sale by wholesaler Makro Tesco, the leading retailer for low alcohol drinks, will reduce the alcohol content of its own-label beer and cider and expand its range of lower alcohol wines and beers, already the biggest selling range in the UK

However, skepticism about NUP is not confined to sections of the alcohol industry. The independent think tank the Institute of Fiscal Studies also questioned the policy, arguing that a preferable approach would be to introduce a floor price for alcohol through the duty system, moving towards a more equal tax treatment of alcohol by type and strength combined with a restriction on selling alcohol below the total tax levied on it. Such a system could be designed to achieve an increase in the price of low cost alcohol similar to that from a minimum price. But it would have the advantage, the IFS says, of raising money for the Exchequer, whereas a minimum price would transfer revenues to the alcohol industry instead. If set at 40p, the IFS estimate that these transfers could be as much as £850 million per year.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said:

“Cutting alcohol by a billion units will help more people drink sensibly and within the guidelines. ….Estimates suggest that in a decade, removing one billion units from sales would result in almost 1,000 fewer alcoholrelated deaths per year, thousands of fewer hospital admissions and alcoholrelated crimes, as well as substantial savings to health services and crime costs each year.”

Mark Bellis, Faculty of Public Health and co-Chair of the Responsibility Deal Alcohol Network said:

“The past thirty years have seen a steady increase in the strength of beers and wines. Reversing this trend by switching sales to lower strength drinks could help reduce the alcohol problems we’ve seen grow over recent decades. Making this pledge work is not just about increasing sales of lower alcohol drinks. For real public health benefi ts, industry must also reduce sales of higher strength products.”