No...

Andrew Opie, the British Retail Consortium's food director It’s simplistic to imagine a minimum unit price for alcohol. The UK already has some of the highest alcohol taxes in Europe, yet antisocial drinking remains an issue for some.

Irresponsible consumption has cultural causes. Addressing those is the answer.

Retailers are putting huge efforts into information and education to change attitudes to drinking because that’s what is working. Retail was the first sector to introduce clear unit labelling on products. They’ve agreed a common set of posters and shelf labels for stores to reinforce messages about safe drinking.

Retailers pioneered Challenge 25 to prevent underage sales meaning anyone who looks under 25 is asked for ID before a sale and they provide funding to the charity DrinkAware.

Minimum unit pricing is a blunt instrument which will just force the vast majority of people who are perfectly responsible drinkers to pay more.

In Scotland, where the Government has said it will ban the sale of alcohol at less than 50 pence per unit, people will say: “Why is this extra expense being imposed on me when I am not the problem?”

Yes...

Neil Crook, chairman of the White Horse branch of the Campaign for Real Ale We think it is scandalous that supermarkets are allowed to use predatory pricing to undermine beer sales in community pubs. CAMRA is campaigning for an end to this practice.

Valued pubs are being driven out of business by supermarkets selling alcohol at below cost – often less than 50 pence a pint.

Community pubs provide a safe and sociable environment for the consumption of alcohol and should be protected from unfair competition.

Scotland is proposing a minimum unit price of 50p, primarily on health grounds, and David Cameron is pushing forward plans to introduce a similar scheme set at 40p a unit.

This was part of the Government’s Alcohol Strategy released in March 2012. The Government will be consulting on this issue during the summer.

CAMRA supports a genuine ban on the sale of alcohol at below cost, but our focus is on preserving pubs.

This would take into account the cost of brewing and retailing beer. This would result in supermarkets being unable to sell beer below an average cost price of around 80p a pint – that would have no effect on real ale or pubs.