50p per unit call on all booze

AN OLDHAM councillor is calling time on cheap booze in the borough.

Responding to research by the North-West health campaign, Our Life, Lib-Dem councillor Mark Alcock wants supermarkets to stop selling alcohol as cheap as 14p per unit.

The research launched during this week’s Alcohol Awareness Week highlight’s prices as low as £1.21 for a two-litre bottle of strong cider in three leading supermarkets.

Councillor Alcock (pictured) is the Liberal Democrat Parliamentary spokesman for Oldham West and Royton and will be fighting Labour’s Michael Meacher at the next general election.

He said: “At £1.21, most supermarkets are selling cider cheaper than Coca-Cola and water. This irresponsible retailing is fuelling ill-health, crime and family breakdown in the North-West.”

The Lib-Dems are calling for the Government to introduce a minimum price for alcohol sales of 50p per unit.

“Evidence from Sheffield University shows this would target those who drink above-moderate levels without penalising moderate drinkers,” added Councillor Alcock. “At 50p per unit, a two-litre bottle of cider would rise to £4.20 but a can of Carling would be 90p and the average pint in the pub would be no more than £1.50, protecting health and the local pubs.

Our Life found that alcohol is now 75 per cent more affordable than in 1980 and home-drinking in England increased by 18 per cent between 1987 and 1997.

The crime and disorder costs of alcohol are £7.3 billion per year in England and alcohol-related deaths increased by 19 per cent between 2001 and 2007.

Director of public health at Oldham NHS, Alan Higgins, said a minimum price of 50p per unit would save 3,393 lives a year, cut crimes by 45,800 and save the country £1 billion every year in alcohol-related costs.