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While I think all reasonable people agree that binge drinking needs to be tackled, what about the rest of the people who spend a hard day at work, who like to relax with a few pints in the evening? Not only that, but the pubs themselves, already hit hard by the smoking ban of last year, will now lose more drink trade with an increase in already high prices for a pint of beer. This is indeed a sad day, and is yet another step towards the death of the great british pub!

Well, not really. Binge? Say 10 pints, or two bottles of wine, that's 40p or 28p extra. I suspect you'll have other problems come the morning than the missing 28-40p.

can someone tell me how Mr Cameron thinks he can tax binge drinkers without taxing ordinary drinkers, binge drinkers do not only drink alco pops and cider, binge drinking is about the amount not what you drink has Mr Cameron never seen anybody go through 6,7,8 or 9 pints or several bottles of wine in an evening or is he just jumping on the stero typical band wagon yet again

im not a heavy drinker, neither do i drive a gas guzzler. What i am is a single woman who has worked hard every day for over 20 years who has a daily drive of 30 miles to earn £1700 per month. I have a modest mortgage but with gas, electricity, petrol and food rises over the past year there is little spare. I used to feel quite comfortably off but now each month is a struggle to make ends meet. If we are expecting bad times ahead then im afraid that hard working people like myself are in for a very bumpy ride.

Great analysis. Lazy journalism as usual.
What you could have said is that the sensible drinker is penalised again for the actions of a minority who buy their fizz from the supermarket at discount prices. You could have also mentioned that the perceived problem for many other people concerns drink limits that have no scientific basis and were made up by the goverment committee (by their own admission).

Labour Out!

"Overall this Budget ensured that heavy drinkers will get a financial hangover whilst promising that the British economy need not suffer one even as the world does"

Nice bit of balanced reporting there Nick. Did you write that line or was it spoon-fed to you by one G. Brown?

Living in the South East the alcohol raise won't make much difference. Need to book my booze cruise soon.

The new budget is quite good, with corporation taxing being cut by 10% which is good for businesses which will hopefully increase their output, having a multiplier effect and hopefully increasing economic growth.

Well, it was to be expected the Chancellor would try the cheap popularity vote with plastic bags. As the plastic going into landfill is about 5.4% of the entire waste, could Mr Darling explain to me what constitues the remaining 94.6% and why he's not concerned about that. Incidentaally, if plastic packaging was replaced the waste moutain would be more than twice as high. Again, the Government are pandering to the air-heads who cannot get through life without having a cheap, quick-fix cause, generally without having any knowledge of the true facts.

I note that cider, the preferred drink of the underage binge drinker, has had the smallest increase in tax. This seems to directly contradict the alleged goal of increasing alcohol taxation; to discourage young drinkers. Yet the increase on beer, which many younger drinkers cannot stomach due to the bitter taste, is more than twice as much.

I must be thick or sommat?

How does putting 4p on a pint reduce or stop binge drinking? I honestly dont think 50% would have any effect.

Except on tax revenue of course.....

So Darling is his own man: he used the old budget box of Gladstone, Churchill and many others rather than the new one made by apprentices in Gordon Brown's constituency. Good for him!

"what about the rest of the people who spend a hard day at work, who like to relax with a few pints in the evening? "

That is what the government and media mean when they use the term "binge drinking"

UK pensioners should NOT need help to pay fuel bills if all was well with UK economy.

If ALL green taxes and income from depleating North Sea resources were used to subside the building of wave & wind energy sources then the UK could end up with the cheapest energy sources on the planet, which would meet emissions targets, provide business & commerce with exceptionally huge international advantage and provide the whole country with cheaper energy.

Nice comments, Gail (#5). I agree with you, but wished I earned £1700 a month.
It seems I have less and less money in my pocket every year since Labour got in.

Incidentally, does anyone realise that abolishing the 10% band and reducing basic from 22% to 20% actually means anyone earning less than £20K is worse off?!?

Does the Chancellor really think these tax rises on peolple who like to go out for a drink will stop the binge drinks, I think not.

Alco pops is what he should ban if he wanted to stop yougsters from drinking, drinks that are made to taste like fizzy pop can only be aim at younsters. STOP THEM

How wrong can you be Nick? This is a binge drinkers budget. The gap between regulated drinking in pubs and the over excessive drinking at home has just widened even further. The board at Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's etc must be rubbing their collective hands in glee.

Time to move over Darling or at least swap you red briefcase for a bag from the 'offie'!

Nick

What about all of the small businesses that are battered each budget time by Gordon & his mates? Increasing corporation tax, income shifting plans, capital gains changes, the list goes on! Labour have no time whatsoever for small business.

normal tax increases of 1p a pint means 10p at the pump ,40p increase to the old boy that enjoys a pint is a disgrace,all because the government cannot control the yob culture.

This budget aimed at drinkers is all about Gordon Brown filling his boots with our money. The money raised should be put in the NHS, Police pay rise and frontline services. Not into stupid policies or reforms aimed at getting one over on the conservatives. Nick you never mentioned Gordon's massive mistake in Prime Ministers Questions. In response to a question from Eddie McGrady the PM revealed that the Queen will be coming to Northern Ireland in the next few days. What a Security headache the Police will have now. What a stupid boy.

Yet another budget that will take money out of the pockets of hard earned money. The vast majority of people in this country are not binge drinkers and enjoy a relaxing drink after a hard day at work or social at the weekends. The tax should have been raised on the the drinks sich as alco pops that the younger elements of our society tend to drink, and fines should be leveled at all supermarkets and shops that sell them to underage drinkers

4p on a pint - yeah right. In 30 years of drinking I have never seen the mythical pint that these figures that come out in the budget apply to. In London that price rise will be 20 pence.

What will happen is that family type pubs will close and more places aimed at youngsters will be created. It is the latter that cause the problems with binge drinkers.

Nick, succinct and ironic: "So, as predicted, booze and gas guzzlers are paying to help poorer families and pensioners struggling to pay their fuel bills."

Those poor families who are heavy drinkers (of which there are many) will be able to pay the additional duty with the higher benefits they will now receive.

What the government have taken from me in the rise in alcohol duties damn wel better be given back to me in a lowering of fuel bills or I will be voting Tory at the next election.You have 2 years to save your political careers Mr Darling and Mr Brown !

Crikey.

At my rate of drinking, I'll need to spend all of 30p a week extra.

OH MY GOD! It's the end of the world.

What a bunch of whinging drama queens, if you're drinking enough alcohol for this budget to affect your 'hard earned wages' then you've got far more issues than you think.

why doesn't he just say, "We'll put up the duty on alcohol cos its easy" rather than latching on to "binge drinking" as an excuse? And why doesn't he square up to the alcopop producers and levy taxes on them specifically? These kinds of drinks are, after all, nothing but poison aimed at young drinkers to get them smashed. Trouble is this calibre of drinker couldn't afford tax rises cos they don't work and probably don't know what tax is anyway as they are too young to have encountered it.

So... what are you talking about Darling?

While I fully support any measures against real child poverty, it would be good to see all benefits means-tested against other income, such as maintenance. I don't think the current system weeds out the genuinely poor from the gold-diggers. For example, Heather Mills could probably claim tax credits and family allowance, despite her new-found fortune, and she is the tip of a very big iceberg.

There also needs to be an overall limit on all the benefits anyone can claim, to put a stop to all these people claiming upwards of 20k a year in benefits.

All this talk of targeting a specific drink is pointless, don’t people realise that putting extra tax on one drink will only mean that the binge drinkers would move on to something cheaper .
Binge drinking is not restricted to kids drinking alcopops it equally applies to many so called adults drinking wine, beer or spirits.

Well Mr Darling I think you may have to find yourself another constituency to represent south of the border after this budget. So we're meant to be tackling binge drinking are we? In that case can someone please explain why 55p is going on a bottle of spirits and only 3p is going on a bottle of spirit based alcopops?

Surely the wrong way round. Its very much an anti-scottish industry tax increase. The Scotch industry is one of the few success stories in the UK, especially as exports go. It seems to me as this is one part of the credit crunch and economic slow down that will be very much self inflicted.

Mind you, in saying that - pushing the scots towards independence may actually be the goal at the end of the day.

In case anyone asks or makes comment I am and always have been a labour voter. My great grandparents helped start the party. They're spinning in their graves now.

I have never posted anything before but I am exasperated by the inappropriate victims of this Budget.
Binge drinking is 100 % related to the discounted off sales trade , principally Supermarkets. Mixed generation places are the best example to control drinking to excess, but many rural pubs will find this the final nail in their fight for survival. We already have the highest alcohol duties in Europe & this will not stop youngsters with nothing else to spend their money on !