Alcohol misuse: tackling the UK epidemic - London

BMA Board of Science
In the UK, taxation on alcohol is set centrally by Her Majesty’s (HM) Treasury. Since 1997, the
duties on wine and beer have only increased in line with inflation and the duty on spirits has not
increased. 113
It is important to recognise that while the production, distribution and sale of
alcoholic beverages is economically significant, the burden of alcohol misuse is equally important.
There is strong and consistent evidence that alcohol consumption and rates of alcohol-related
problems are responsive to price. 114-118
It has been estimated that a 10 per cent increase in alcohol
prices in the UK would lead to a 10 per cent fall in consumption. 4
The price elasticity varies
between types of alcoholic beverage. In the UK, price elasticises have been estimated as -0.48 for
beer consumed on premises, -1.03 for packaged beer, -0.75 for wine, and -1.31 for spirits (ie
spirits are most price elastic and beer consumed on premises least price elastic). 119
Based on these
estimates, a 10 per cent increase in the prices of alcoholic beverages across the board would lead
to a reduction in consumption of beer consumed on premises of 4.8 per cent, and spirits by 13.1
per cent. 57
Increases in the price of alcohol not only affect consumption at a population level, but
there is evidence that particular types of consumers (eg heavy drinkers and young drinkers) are
57, 114, 120-123
especially responsive to price.
Studies have also reported that price increases have the effect of reducing rates of alcohol
4, 114
problems including alcohol-related violence and crime, deaths from liver cirrhosis, 124
and drinkdriving
deaths. 125
A 2007 review found the 2004 reductions in alcohol taxation in Finland to be
associated with an increase in the number of sudden deaths involving alcohol. 126
A 2006 study
examining the influence of the price of beer on violence-related injuries in England and Wales
found that increased alcohol prices would result in substantially fewer violent injuries and reduced
demand on trauma services. 127
The study concluded that a one per cent rise in the real price of
alcohol would equate to an economy-wide reduction in cases of assaults in emergency
departments of 5,000 per year. 127
In the UK, alcohol is relatively highly taxed compared to other EU countries (see Appendix 3). 5
Furthermore, traveller’s allowance guidelines for the importation of alcohol for personal use from
other EU countries are disproportionately high. HM Revenue and Customs guidelines advise that
no more than 10 litres of spirits, 20 litres of fortified wine, 90 litres of wine, and 110 litres of beer
can be brought into the UK for personal use. 128
Any alcohol brought into the UK in excess of these
guidelines may be seized by customs officers if the individual cannot provide satisfactory
explanation that these quantities are for personal rather than commercial purposes. The
combination of low alcohol taxation in the EU coupled with high traveller’s allowances mean large
quantities of alcohol are regularly imported into the UK from continental Europe. As noted
previously, it has been estimated that the approximate level of unrecorded annual consumption in
the UK is two litres of 100 per cent alcohol per inhabitant aged 15 or over. 7
Reducing the
importation of alcohol from other EU countries, however, is unrealistic given current EU legislation
and single market regulations.
It is clear that the relationship between the affordability of alcohol and the level of consumption
provides an effective tool for controlling levels of consumption and reducing levels of alcoholrelated
harm. The UK Government, however, has consistently opted not to use taxation as an
alcohol control policy. The proposal by the European Commission in 2006 to increase minimum
levels of excise duty on alcoholic drinks across the EU was also rejected by the European
Parliament. It is essential that there is an increase in the level of excise paid on alcohol in the UK
and this should be relative to the number of units of alcohol. This increased taxation would not
only reduce alcohol consumption and its related harms, but would also contribute to providing the
necessary funding to meet the social and economic costs of these harms (eg police enforcement
measures, healthcare service costs and treatment services).
Alcohol misuse: tackling the UK epidemic 49