Downing Street responds to Harpers online poll

The Prime Minister's office has confirmed to Harpers Wine & Spirit that it will not introduce legislation that unfairly punishes people who drink responsibly in a response to the magazine's online Downing Street poll posted at the end of last year.

In the poll Harpers Wine & Spirit urged the Prime Minister to look at the facts behind alcohol use in the UK and recognise the fact that overall drinking habits are down and that blanket legislation that affects all drinkers would not be the answer.

The poll was signed by over 450 people, including members of the public as well as the trade, before it was taken down at the end of January.

Harpers Wine & Spirit has just received this response from the Prime Minister's office:

Thank you for your e-petition about drinking levels in the UK.

Drinking alcohol is a long-standing part of British culture and, ultimately, it is down to individual choice whether people drink and how much they drink.

The government does, however, have an important role to play, and we are determined to tackle under-age drinking, binge drinking, and long-term excessive drinking, which are bad for people's health, cause harm to wider society, and can lead to anti-social behaviour and crime.

However, we want to tackle these problems in a way that does not unfairly punish the majority who drink responsibly. Instead, we will target those individuals who drink irresponsibly and cause harm to others, those specific localities where alcohol causes particular problems, and those businesses that are selling alcohol irresponsibly.

In order to support the implementation of new laws to tackle alcohol related crime and disorder, we are currently running a series of workshops aimed at ensuring that front line practitioners are aware of, and understand, the wide range of tools and powers available to them. We will be supplementing these workshops with a comprehensive digital resource pack for front line practitioners comprising updated guidance, reference materials and videoed training modules.

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