Last week David Cameron backed councils across the country in their plans to implement a minimum price for alcohol. However, new data from YouGov SixthSense reveals that the public are undecided in their support for the proposal, which includes a law that each unit of alcohol must cost at least 50p.
47% of UK adults are against the move which national and local Governments alike consider a major step toward curbing underage drinking and anti-social behavior. 40% of respondents registered support for the proposal, suggesting that the public are split over whether this measure would actually work in tackling binge drinking.
76% of UK adults also admit that a minimum price for alcohol would make no difference to the amount of alcohol that they drink and 45% of respondents who go to the pub on a regular basis would rather buy alcohol in the supermarket and drink it at home because of the cost.
David Cameron believes that current alcohol prices encourage a culture of ‘loading up’ on cheap alcohol before a night on the town even begins, fueling acts of anti-social behaviour. 62% of men aged 16-24 and 55% of women aged 16-24 admit that they ‘like getting drunk’, fueling the concerns of the Government about young people and binge drinking.
With the public split over Cameron’s proposal, it will be interesting to see whether this develops into a major issue for the Coalition Government to deal with.
