Evil Tory Bastards!

[Hopeless Romantic]

Tax rises of up to £1.50 a bottle on super-strength beer and cider would be introduced by a Conservative government to tackle teenage binge drinking, the shadow home secretary announced today.

Supermarkets and other retailers would be banned from selling alcohol at below cost price and further changes to the licensing laws would give councils new powers to close down pubs and off-licences that broke the rules.

In a wide-ranging speech to the Tory conference in Manchester, Chris Grayling also confirmed the Conservatives' intention to ban the non-violent Islamist extremist group Hizb ut-Tahrir and to impose a cap on immigration. "There will be no open door," he said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/oct/07/tories-super-strength-beer-cider-tax

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. The first part I find OK

I've banged on here before about the stupidly low tax on high strength cider (all cider that is below 7.5% ABV is taxed as if it's 2% ABV beer). They say they'd exempt microbreweries. I'm not sure what the 'community pubs' they'd support with the money are - existing pubs that need a bit of help to keep one decent pub open in a community (sounds OK), or new 'community pubs' set up specially for this (sounds more likely to be a failure).

Immigration policy - sounds like more Tory pandering to the Daily Mail, and could easily end up nasty.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. The Tories won't be very popular

I wouldn't want to pay another 1.50 on beer! It's too expensive as it is.