UK govt under pressure over alcohol pricing 'U-turn'

Campaigners heaped pressure on David Cameron Wednesday over reports that he intends to drop plans for minimum alcohol pricing, even as the prime minister insisted the status quo has "got to change". Speculation has been growing that the government is set to ditch plans announced in November for a minimum alcohol price in England and Wales, aimed at restraining a binge-drinking culture. At Prime Minister's Questions, Cameron defended plans to tackle alcohol pricing but stopped short of confirming the proposals would go ahead. "There is as problem with deeply discounted alcohol in supermarkets and other stores and I'm absolutely determined that we will deal with this," he told MPs. "We've published proposals, we're looking at the consultation and the results to those proposals, but be in no doubt we've got to deal with the problem of having 20p or 25p cans of lager available in supermarkets. It's got to change." One of his own backbenchers, former GP Sarah Wollaston, was among those to put him on the spot over the issue, saying that "whenever alcohol is too cheap, more people die." She added that scrapping the policy would "critically undermine future efforts of those who want to do something about it". A consultation document issued last year suggested a base price of 45 pence per unit but the government has yet to announce its conclusions. Cameron reportedly faces pressure from within the cabinet to scrap the plans, with Home Secretary Theresa May and Communities Secretary Eric Pickles among those said to believe it would unfairly penalise responsible drinkers. Shadow home office minister Diana Johnson earlier said the reported U-turn showed "weak leadership" as the prime minister faced calls to clarify his position. "Theresa May and David Cameron have announced a minimum alcohol price twice in the last 12 months," Labour MP Johnson said. "Now we hear reports the Home Secretary has changed her mind on her own policy and wants to U-turn. "This is weak leadership and weak government. The Home Secretary and the Prime Minister said this measure would cut crime and prevent alcohol abuse. What's changed?" Senior Conservative David Davis panned Cameron's policy which he said would unfairly hit the poor but was "not going to change the price of Chateau Lafite at Chequers". "There is no doubt there is an issue to be dealt with in terms of a minority of the public who abuse alcohol," the former shadow home secretary told Today. "But this is a blunderbuss of a policy." Meanwhile doctors and health campaigners pressed the government to forge ahead with minimum pricing. Dr Vivienne Nathanson, director of professional activities at the British Medical Association, urged Cameron to "be courageous". She told the BBC's Today programme the policy represented "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to save lives, to save the country money".