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Minimum pricing unlikely in UK

The ruling SNP party in Scotland has offered a compromise to its opponents on ‘minimum pricing’ for alcoholic drinks there after the proposal was given a firm thumbs-down by Labour and other opposition parties in the Scottish parliament.

The ruling SNP party in Scotland has offered a compromise to its opponents on ‘minimum pricing’ for alcoholic drinks there after the proposal was given a firm thumbs-down by Labour and other opposition parties in the Scottish parliament.
And the move seems doomed in England and Wales too with the Con/Lib-Dem Government indicating that it’s just “not interested” in introducing a minimum price per unit  of alcohol. This has not endeared the UK Government to those in the health lobby or to a number of local councils.
The move by Scottish Health Minister Nicola Sturgeon to increase the unit price for alcohol to 45 pence would affect C&C’s newly-acquired Tennents Lager brand. Cans of popular brands of lager such as Stella Artois, Carlsberg and Tennent’s would increase in price, but the vast majority of branded drinks already cost more than 45p per unit.
Scotland’s Health Minister hopes to table an amendment to the Alcohol (Scotland) Bill, currently passing through parliament, introducing the price.
But the SNP’s proposal has been met with resistance from opposition parties, who have vowed to remove the plan at a further stage in the Bill’s passage.


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