Minimum alcohol pricing could hand business a £700m fillip
Plans to legally ‘price fix’ the cost of alcohol could give business a £700m boost (at the expense of consumers) according to a new by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
Supermarkets have come in for some stick in recent years for selling alcohol at rock bottom prices, a policy which some claim has lubricated Britain’s culture of binge drinking.
IFS researchers have concluded however that the financial windfall of such a move would be sown by retailers and manufacturers rather than the government.
Based on current alcohol sales the researchers identified Lidl as potentially the biggest net beneficiary in percentage terms a 20pc hike in sales. Its larger competitor would win out in cash terms however, reaping an estimated £230m from a minimum price of 45p per unit of alcohol.
Retailers such as Waitrose and Marks and Spencer would see less of a windfall as they flog less cheap booze than their rivals.
Andrew Leicester, co-author of the research, said: "The Government should seek to change European regulations on how alcohol taxes can be structured, so that taxes can mimic the impact of minimum prices whilst ensuring the resulting revenues go to the Government and not firms."