Call for minimum alcohol pricing

A senior Labour MP has called for minimum pricing of alcohol to be brought into force to help cut the rising rates of addiction.

Kevin Barron, chair of the House of Commons Health Select Committee, said the move would save thousands of lives across England and Wales as well as reducing the bill for treatment and crime.

Other proposals announced by the committee in January, to tackle the "shocking" rise in alcohol misuse, include mandatory health warnings on labels and an increase in tax on spirits.

Mr Barron told a Commons estimate day debate that accusations the policies would also punish moderate drinkers were a "myth".

He stressed that minimum pricing would actually hit those who drank cheap alcohol, such as young binge drinkers and heavy drinkers on low-incomes.

The Government has a "failure of will and competence" over alcohol policy, a report said, and accused ministers of being too close to drinks companies and supermarkets.

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