Supermarkets have once more come under fire for selling alcohol more cheaply than bottled water.
Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Sainsbury’s were all found to be selling beer at just over 5p per 100ml. This compared to a typical price of 8p for 100ml of brand-name mineral water.
Campaigners claimed retailers were “irresponsible”, and encouraging binge drinking by using cheap alcohol to tempt in customers, while ignoring the associated dangers to health of excessive alcohol consumption.
Sir Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer for England and Wales, has called for minimum pricing for alcohol.
He claimed that charging a minimum of 50p per unit of alcohol – raising the cost of an average six-pack of lager to £6 – would save up to 3,400 lives a year and cut the number of hospital admissions by 100,000.
The alcohol industry and prime minister Gordon Brown opposed the idea on the grounds that it discriminated against responsible drinkers.
Alcohol Concern said government attempts to curb binge drinking were being undermined by supermarket discounting.
But supermarkets highlighted schemes requiring younger customers to prove their age as evidence of their intention to tackle under-age drinking.
