|PIC1|The Church of England has come out in support of a damning report calling for minimum pricing on alcohol to curb excessive drinking.

The Health Select Committee report called for a minimum price of 50 pence per unit of alcohol to save an estimated 3,000 lives a year.

The Committee said the Government’s response to Britain’s binge-drinking problem had so far “ranged from the non-existent to the ineffectual”, as it accused the Government of listening to the drinks and retail industry more than the health professionals.

According to the report, alcohol consumption in England has tripled per head of population since 1947. It estimates around 2.6 million adults – eight per cent of men and six per cent of women - are now drinking at “higher-risk levels” of more than six units for women and eight units for men per day, double the Government's guidelines.

The report dismissed as a “myth” the claim of the drinks industry that minimum pricing would unnecessarily penalise moderate drinkers, saying it would only cost them a few pence more a week.

The Rev Dr Malcolm Brown, Director of Mission and Public Affairs for the Archbishops’ Council, agrees with the report’s findings, saying minimum pricing and restrictions on availability were the most effective proven means of restricting alcohol consumption.

He supported the report’s recommendations of better education on the effects of excessive drinking and mandatory health messages on the labels of every alcoholic drink.

“The challenge to drink responsibly applies to every individual. But it is essential that major economic and cultural influences upon individual drinking should be clearly recognised, their harmful effects limited as far as practical, and positive influences mobilised to discourage damaging and anti-social behaviour,” he said.

“We look to Government and Parliament to respond speedily and positively to this important report."

Minimum pricing has proved a contentious issue. Whilst it has been endorsed by the Chief Medical Officer for England, the Prime Minister and the Conservative Party have rejected it. In Scotland, the SNPs have faced stiff opposition to their efforts to push through minimum pricing.