Get your MP on our side

 
It may be quite some time since you signed a petition or put your voice behind an industry initiative, but it's increasingly important as many people in the sector as possible stand up and be counted on the issue of responsible drinking and the misconception there now is about how bad our drinking culture has become.

Next week marks the end of a cross-government consultation into what steps it is looking to take to tackle the issue of alcohol abuse in this country. But the leaked draft notes that Harpers has seen on what the Government is proposing shows it is already a long way down the line in making up its mind. In the melting pot are proposals for a mandatory code for the industry governing how drinks are made, packaged, promoted, advertised and sold.

Meanwhile the health and anti-alcohol lobby continues to wreak havoc in the press with story after story depicting what a drunken, out of control society we are. Yet the facts say something completely different.

Today we are linking up with the Wine and Spirit Trade Association to invite everyone in the drinks industry to sign and send an open letter to their local MP as part of our new Alcohol: Know Your Facts campaign. In it we show the real facts about drinking habits in the UK and how levels of binge drinking, under-age drinking and drinking over all are going down.

It is important we start the fight back on a local level. Rememer you are your MP's constituent and they are duty bound to respond to what you write to them. Ideally you would back up our letter with thoughts of your own so your MP knows the real picture where you live.

You can download our open letter from our website, www.talkingdrinks.com, or email its contents direct to your MP. We are also hoping to get consumers involved by making it available on the new www.drinkersalliance.com website.

If you are concerned about how politicians understand your business and how they might legislate against you in the future, then please sign our letter and make sure at least your MP has got their facts right.

Richard Siddle is the editor of Harpersmagazine.

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