Personally I am genuinely angry about this; not just about the minimum price but about what this confirms about the current Conservative leadership. All their talk of a smaller, less interventiionist, less nannying/bullying state has been a complete lie. I voted Conservative in the last General Election; I will not be doing so again as long as Cameron is leader.
Rub-a-dub
Chocolate teapot? Chocolate orange, more like.
This is particularly relevant to efforts towards stemming drug-related crime. Alcohol needs to be cheaper than hard drugs so that is it preferentially treated as the drug of choice for most people from the pressures and unfairnesses of life.
Andrew M
I don’t see supermarkets making significantly more money out of this. At present a 2L bottle of cheap, nasty, throat-scratching 5% cider costs £2, or 20p per unit. Alternatively if you are willing to spend more, you could buy something a bit nicer. For £4 you can buy a bottle of higher-quality branded cider.
With a minimum price of 40p per unit, our 2L 5% bottle costs a minimum of £4. Now you have a choice: for £4 either buy the nasty tasteless scratchy cider, or for the same price buy a premium brand which tastes better and uses better-quality ingredients.
The real winners will be the producers of premium ciders and premium drinks in general; the losers will be the producers of cheap nasty booze. Much of their profits will be spent telling us how great their premium booze is, so the advertising and media sectors will benefit too.
By this time next year we’ll be reading about how there is too much alcohol being advertised on TV.
Alex, I have no sympathy for you. It is because of people like you that the Tories remain in some sense electorally viable. I mean, seriously: how many lessons do they have to teach you?
Andrew: your idyllic world doesn’t quite take into account the way supermarkets work. *They* can buy booze at whatever price the manufacturer or importer wishes to sell it for – the minimum price is only at the final, retail stage.
So: Tesco buys two litres of evil white cider for a quid at wholesale, sticks it prominently on the shelves, sells it for four quid, and makes a gross margin of 300%. Meanwhile, the decent cider that Tesco buys for three quid at wholesale goes on the shelves for 4.50. They *could* shift it for GBP4, but why would they?
Andrew Duffin
Not only barmcake and chocolate teapot, but illegal too.
The Scotch Whisky Association has just fired a warning shot across the bows, and the “government” is now backtracking, saying it will take some time to check compliance, etc etc.
What’s the betting that after a few words from the bosses in Brussels, this will be quietly kicked into the long grass or dropped entirely?
Personally I am genuinely angry about this; not just about the minimum price but about what this confirms about the current Conservative leadership. All their talk of a smaller, less interventiionist, less nannying/bullying state has been a complete lie. I voted Conservative in the last General Election; I will not be doing so again as long as Cameron is leader.
Chocolate teapot? Chocolate orange, more like.
This is particularly relevant to efforts towards stemming drug-related crime. Alcohol needs to be cheaper than hard drugs so that is it preferentially treated as the drug of choice for most people from the pressures and unfairnesses of life.
I don’t see supermarkets making significantly more money out of this. At present a 2L bottle of cheap, nasty, throat-scratching 5% cider costs £2, or 20p per unit. Alternatively if you are willing to spend more, you could buy something a bit nicer. For £4 you can buy a bottle of higher-quality branded cider.
With a minimum price of 40p per unit, our 2L 5% bottle costs a minimum of £4. Now you have a choice: for £4 either buy the nasty tasteless scratchy cider, or for the same price buy a premium brand which tastes better and uses better-quality ingredients.
The real winners will be the producers of premium ciders and premium drinks in general; the losers will be the producers of cheap nasty booze. Much of their profits will be spent telling us how great their premium booze is, so the advertising and media sectors will benefit too.
By this time next year we’ll be reading about how there is too much alcohol being advertised on TV.
Alex, I have no sympathy for you. It is because of people like you that the Tories remain in some sense electorally viable. I mean, seriously: how many lessons do they have to teach you?
Andrew: your idyllic world doesn’t quite take into account the way supermarkets work. *They* can buy booze at whatever price the manufacturer or importer wishes to sell it for – the minimum price is only at the final, retail stage.
So: Tesco buys two litres of evil white cider for a quid at wholesale, sticks it prominently on the shelves, sells it for four quid, and makes a gross margin of 300%. Meanwhile, the decent cider that Tesco buys for three quid at wholesale goes on the shelves for 4.50. They *could* shift it for GBP4, but why would they?
Not only barmcake and chocolate teapot, but illegal too.
The Scotch Whisky Association has just fired a warning shot across the bows, and the “government” is now backtracking, saying it will take some time to check compliance, etc etc.
What’s the betting that after a few words from the bosses in Brussels, this will be quietly kicked into the long grass or dropped entirely?