General Chat

Another U Turn by David Cameron, he has abandoned plans for a minimum alcohol price of 45p per unit. I wish he would do the ultimate U Turn, from Downing Street back to the Oxfordshire countryside and his millionaire friends, and stay there ;-)

David Cameron has bowed to pressure from the Treasury and abandoned his plans for a minimum alcohol price. The Treasury argued that it would reduce tax revenues at a time when the public finances remain strained.

Mr Cameron had argued that making drinks more expensive would curb problem drinking, while several ministers argued that the minimum price would only serve to penalise responsible drinkers.

My own take on this story is that the Chancellor George Osborne told David Cameron that his plan for a minimum price would mean that he would need to restrict the amount in the Budget that he was planning to increase the tax on alcohol by.

You have a week to get your booze and ciggies before that nice Mr Osborne opens his little red box of tricks and hits us all where it hurts :-( :-( :-(

DC has made so many uturns on so many things, he must be quite dizzy.