The days when Britain nearly went teetotal

I'm not sure if many other people picked up on this, but there was a point when there was almost a massive crackdown on alcohol in the UK.

It wasnt in 1909. It was in 2013.

If it was successful alcohol would have been treater closer to how cigarettes are treated (so not really a ban and the Britain wouldn't have gone teetotal, but its a good title).

It was back in around March of this year when the there was a call .

This wasnt some fringe Muslim group asking for implementation of Shariah law, but the that called for this and it was based on sound medical advice, the type you would normally never see in the media as it was not something that is politically acceptable.

Saying that there have been previous calls for similar stuff, for instance by the well respected in 2009 when it released a 9 point plan including minimum pricing and a ban on sales.

However, this time it wasn't a lone voice, the matter was debated in parliament where there was actual serious discussion and possibly of it becoming law.

The change in legislation was backed by government, but after some pushback and possibly a , David Cameron , caved in and the opportunity was lost.

David Cameron chickened out of making things to such a degree that a few days later when the budget was published, instead of minimum pricing being introduced or the taxation increasing, the tax on alcohol was actually reduced.

Quite a U turn.

Comments

I doubt they would lose their jobs.

They would be able to focus on other areas of healthcare and probably not be as underfunded as they would not require to spend so much on treating alcohol (but not advertising alcohol would fix some things, fix reduce rates of new alcoholics etc, but probably not impact as greatly on current ones, so its a long term fix).

(Changed article to reflect that the BMA's call was a few years ago, not this march. This march it was another organisation and then debated in parliament.)

"For too long, we have been a passively tolerant society, saying to our citizens 'as long as you obey the law, we will leave you alone'" - David Cameron, UK Prime Minister. 13 May 2015.