A top Asda chief has been criticised for saying the supermarket will not support proposed minimum alcohol pricing, because it is not what consumers want.
Public affairs manager Guy Mason, responding to a recent Asda survey of consumers on the matter, said the move would hurt consumers who are already struggling to pay higher grocery bills.
Politicians this week also proposed to introduce alcohol-only checkouts in supermarkets.
The plans came under fire from the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, which called them an “inconvenience”.
Speaking about minimum pricing, Mason said: “We are driven by our customers and they tell us what they want. We wouldn’t welcome legislation on minimum pricing because our customers wouldn’t welcome it either.
“We are being asked to punish 80% of our customers to try to help the 20% who do abuse alcohol and we don’t think that’s right.”
Chief executive of Alcohol Concern Don Shenker said that Asda has a responsibility to ensure cheap drink is not available to those “vulnerable to alcohol misuse” at extremely cheap prices.
“To prevent this we need to look at a strategy for minimum pricing to end irresponsible deep discounting,” he said.
A proposed alcohol code of practice has been dismissed by the Association of Convenience Stores, with greater enforcement of existing laws touted as an alternative by the retail lobby group.
