Local authority urges Home Secretary to adopt differential pricing for alcohol
A city council has joined up with its local NHS to urge the Home Secretary to adopt differential pricing of alcohol, with higher VAT payable on off-sales.
Brighton and Hove City Council and NHS Brighton and Hove told Theresa May that there was growing concern about links between alchol-related harm, and the availability and affordability of alcohol.
The letter was drafted by the city's Alcohol Programme Board and was signed by Cllr Lizzie Deane, chair of the council’s Licensing Committee, John Barradell, the council’s Chief Executive, and Dr Tom Scanlon, Director of Public Health.
The board – a partnership between the city council, NHS, police and voluntary sector – called on the Home Secretary to increase VAT rates on the sale of alcohol from off licences, shops and supermarkets. However, it did not recommend a specific figure for the VAT increase in off-sales.
The letter said: “Increased affordability within the retail trade (shops and supermarkets) is blamed for street drinking, pre-loading and binge drinking. In practice it is virtually impossible to establish a link between alcohol misuse and specific off-sale retail outlets.
“As individual outlets cannot be targeted effectively, more general pricing controls are required.”
The letter followed a report from the city’s hospitality trade, calling for a lower VAT rate for on-licence sales to support jobs in the tourist industry.
The Alcohol Programme Board said it supported in principle the hospitality trade’s proposal, but again did not specify what the VAT rate for on-sales should be.
Brighton & Hove is also currently consulting on proposals to extend the city’s cumulative impact zone and to impose stricter controls on new licence applications on a city-wide basis.
Cllr Deane said: “A lot of work is going on in Brighton & Hove to enforce licensing regulations and deal with concerns about alcohol, but we cannot control prices from supermarkets and shops which lead people to ‘pre-load’ on cheap alcohol before they go out for the night.
“This is a national issue – it is by no means unique to Brighton & Hove – which is why we are calling on the government to increase the VAT on alcohol sold in off licences, shops and supermarkets, to make it less affordable.
“We are also supporting different VAT levels for on and off-licence sales. Sales of alcohol from on-licensed premises are more controlled – people are drinking in a regulated environment and are not served more alcohol if they are drunk.”
