Tuesday 1st March 2011

(13 years, 2 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Baroness Jolly Portrait Baroness Jolly
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My Lords—

Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe Portrait Lord Brooke of Alverthorpe
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My Lords, now that the Minister and the Government have accepted that raising the price of alcohol is one of the ways in which we can minimise harm to those who are abusing alcohol, why have the Government’s recent proposals been so minimal? The cost of a can of lager will be increased, or minimised, to 38p under the new arrangements. This is hardly going to make any change whatsoever. We have to wait for the White Paper in the summer, but in the mean time why could a more positive approach to raising the cost of alcohol not have been taken and more fundamental changes made to the ever increasing easy access to alcohol, which is another problem that needs addressing?