Alcohol: Minimum Unit Price Debate

Full Debate: Read Full Debate
Department: Home Office

Alcohol: Minimum Unit Price

Lilian Greenwood Excerpts
Thursday 14th March 2013

(11 years, 7 months ago)

Commons Chamber
Read Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts

Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.

Each Urgent Question requires a Government Minister to give a response on the debate topic.

This information is provided by Parallel Parliament and does not comprise part of the offical record

Jeremy Browne Portrait Mr Browne
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

My hon. Friend makes a strong argument that replicates to a degree the one made by the right hon. Member for Exeter (Mr Bradshaw). Let us say, for the sake of argument, that an elderly person on a low income bought one cheap bottle of wine a week, on average, because they could not afford to buy a more expensive bottle. There is a strong argument against financially penalising that person by introducing a minimum unit price that would increase the cost of that bottle of wine when they are consuming the wine entirely responsibly and causing no wider social ills. Those are exactly the sort of issues that grown-up and responsible Governments must consider carefully.

Lilian Greenwood Portrait Lilian Greenwood (Nottingham South) (Lab)
- Hansard - -

The Prime Minister said yesterday that he would take action to stop the problem of 20p or 25p cans of lager being sold in supermarkets. How will he do that?

Jeremy Browne Portrait Mr Browne
- Hansard - - - Excerpts

I remind Opposition Members that nothing was done about these problems—[Interruption.] The idea that alcohol suddenly became cheap in May 2010 and lots of social ills came about as a result—[Interruption.]