Big stores defy MPs over sale of cheap alcohol

Supermarkets were at the centre of a fresh controversy today for selling alcohol at under 40p per unit.

So-called "super-strength" wine is being discounted to just over £3 a bottle by retailers including Tesco and Sainsbury's.

This is well below the recommended minimum price limit on drink recommended by MPs in a report to ministers today. The Health Select Committee is backing calls from experts, including the chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson, for a minimum price on drinks of about 40p per unit of alcohol.

This would mean a bottle of wine should not cost on average any less than £4.50 or £6 for a six-pack of lager.But a snapshot survey of London supermarkets has found many are discounting well below this.

A bottle of Corbieres Red at Tesco in Notting Hill Gate is on sale at £3.29. Becks beer is being offered at £4 for six 275ml units. At Asda in Wembley Park, Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon, which is 13 per cent, can be purchased for £3.11. Sainsbury's at the O2 Centre in Finchley Road is selling Spanish red wine at £2.58 a bottle.

These offers would be banned if the Government moved to bring in a system of minimum pricing.

The select committee report insists this is the only way to tackle binge drinking and that Gordon Brown's decision to oppose such a clampdown is harming the nation's health.

Alcohol sales would fall by 40 per cent if everyone drank responsibly yet the drinks industry is dependent on harmful drinkers for three quarters of its sales, the report says. The MPs pointed out that the Government spent £17.6 million on alcohol awareness in 2009/10 compared with the drinks industry's £800 million on marketing.