British PM Gordon Brown declared his views towards the new price of alcohol in the UK, the BBC News website has reported today.
In a press conference held yesterday Mr Brown expressed that he will not interfere with the new law that has been considered by the Chief Medical Officer for England, Sir Liam Donaldson, who wants to increase the price of alcohol by 50p per every unit of alcohol.
This new law would make a regular bottle of wine of a minimum price of £3.00 a £4.50 bottle of wine. According to the BBC News website, England, unlike other European countries that have decreased the amount of alcohol consumed in a year, has increased it by 40%.
Although Mr. Brown has no intentions to stop the price of alcohol from being risen, he did show some concern about the ‘moderate’ drinkers. The BBC News website reported today: “He (Mr. Brown) said: I think these strong actions in public health are always controversial.”
BBC Radio 4 has broadcasted today that Mr. Brown does not think it is fair to penalize those who do not drink too much, for the fault of those who drink more.
The purpose of increasing the price of every alcohol unit sold in England is to stop heavy drinkers from becoming more addicted to alcohol. According to the BBC News website “the NHS bill for alcohol abuse is an estimated £2.7bn a year”
It is not a secret to anyone that many English people have drinking problems, and that every year more and more under-aged teenagers are starting to drink heavier types of alcohol more frequently.Plus, after having seen that the measures towards smoking in public places taken more than two years ago worked - because it has been proved that since the law of non-smoking in public places made many people stop smoking - the government is now trying to apply the same strategy on alcohol laws.
Which – if you look at it this way – is a good thing, because in times of economic crisis and recession, it is better not to spend money on unnecessary things such as alcohol.
Instead of spending money on alcohol, we could spend that money on more useful things such as food, mortgage or invest it on saving. Plus, it is a fact that this new alcohol regulation will stop many people from getting violent in the streets every time they drink.
I agree with what the government is trying to do, and I believe it is one of the most reasonable ideas they have had in a long time.
I agree with what the government is trying to do, and I believe it is one of the most reasonable ideas they have had in a long time.
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