Home drinking – Is this the target of the new alcohol strategy?

Abstract

In the foreword to the third alcohol strategy for England and Wales, Prime Minister David Cameron is clear that this is a response to the problems caused by binge drinking. This is within the context of alcohol consumption in England and Wales having fallen steadily for a number of years and a shift to more drinking at home, which until recently has largely been seen as non-problematic. Despite being portrayed as a response to binge drinking, the main headline that accompanied the strategy was the proposal to introduce minimum unit pricing. The main effect of this will be to narrow the price of alcohol purchased in supermarkets compared to licensed premises. This article suggests that policy makers may now be more receptive to the arguments that suggest they should now be considering alcohol-related general population harms. Despite the fact that the strategy has been presented as a response to binge drinking, there is also a focus on the cost of general population harms.