Alcohol sales in England would fall by 38 per cent from £35 billion to £22 billion a year if everyone kept to the recommended 14 units a week, new research suggests.
A quarter of drinkers fail to stick to the Government’s guidance of no more than 14 units a week, a study found today.
Researcher Colin Angus, from the University of Sheffield, said: ‘Our analysis shows that if everyone in England drank within the guidelines, the average price of a pint in a pub would have to rise by £2.64 and a bottle of wine in the supermarket by £4.36, in order to maintain current levels of revenue for the alcohol industry.
‘The size of these increases cast serious doubt on the industry’s claims that it supports moderate drinking.’
Experts claim money loss may be why the alcohol industry resists policies such as minimum unit pricing.
Alcohol sales in England would decline by 38 per cent from £35 billion if everyone kept to the recommended 14 units a week. One quarter of drinkers do not stick to this guidance (stock)
How the research was carried out
The researchers analysed the results of the UK Office for National Statistics’ Living Costs and Food Survey, and NHS Digital’s Health Survey for England.
These are distributed to homes in the UK throughout the year and ask adults to describe their expenditures, including alcohol, over two weeks.
Moderate drinkers were defined as those consuming no more than 14 alcoholic beverages a week.
Heavy drinkers were women having between 15 and 35 units, and men 15-to-50 a week. Over these levels was considered harmful.
‘Alcohol causes 24,000 deaths a year in England’
Results, published in the journal Addiction, further suggest that 68 per cent of England’s alcohol industry revenue comes from heavy drinkers.
Some four per cent of the population drinks at ‘harmful’ levels, with such individuals being responsible for 23 per cent of all alcohol sold.
Some 81 per cent of alcohol sold in supermarkets and 60 per cent in bars, clubs and restaurants are to heavy drinkers.
Lead author Aveek Bhattacharya, from the Institute of Alcohol Studies, said: ‘Alcohol causes 24,000 deaths and over 1.1 million hospital admissions each year in England, at a cost of £3.5 billion to the NHS.
‘Yet policies to address this harm, like minimum unit pricing and raising alcohol duty, have been resisted at every turn by the alcohol industry.
‘Our analysis suggests this may be because many drinks companies realise that a significant reduction in harmful drinking would be financially ruinous.
‘The Government should recognise just how much the industry has to lose from effective alcohol policy, and be more wary of its attempts to derail meaningful action through lobbying and offers of voluntary partnership.
‘Protecting alcohol industry profits should not be the objective of public policy – previous research has shown that reducing alcohol consumption would not only save lives and benefit the exchequer, but could also boost the economy and create jobs.’