Retail newsagents renew calls for minimum alcohol pricing
The National Federation of Retail Newsagents has renewed its calls for a minimum unit price on alcohol as new figures show a drop in violent crime as Britons cut back on binge drinking.
NFRN chief executive Paul Baxter said: “We are pleased to hear that incidents of violent crime have halved in a decade with binge drinking becoming less frequent as consumers are squeezed financially.
“It has long been our belief that minimum pricing would help cut consumption among those at risk from heavy drinking as well as protecting independent news and convenience store owners who are all too often a target for anti-social behaviour fuelled by people who have got drunk on cheap alcohol.
“In the light of these new statistics we are renewing calls for the government to think again about minimum pricing. It’s our belief that this will reduce alcohol consumption even further as well as going some way towards helping hard pressed independent retailers compete against multiple chains on pricing.”
Research from the University of Cardiff’s Violence and Society Research Group has shown that attacks leaving victims in hospital were down 12% last year while alcohol consumption dropped from 11.2 litres per adult in 2008 to 9.5 litres last year.
