FDBusiness.com

Last week British Prime Minister David Cameron backed councils across the country in their plans to implement a minimum price for alcohol. However, new data from YouGov SixthSense reveals that the public are undecided in their support for the proposal, which includes a law that each unit of alcohol must cost at least 50p.

47% of UK adults are against the move which national and local governments alike consider a major step toward curbing underage drinking and anti-social behavior. 40% of respondents registered support for the proposal, suggesting that the public are split over whether this measure would actually work in tackling binge drinking.

76% of UK adults also admit that a minimum price for alcohol would make no difference to the amount of alcohol that they drink and 45% of respondents who go to the pub on a regular basis would rather buy alcohol in the supermarket and drink it at home because of the cost.

David Cameron believes that current alcohol prices encourage a culture of ‘loading up’ on cheap alcohol before a night on the town even begins, fueling acts of anti-social behaviour. 62% of men aged 16-24 and 55% of women aged 16-24 admit that they ‘like getting drunk’, fueling the concerns of the Government about young people and binge drinking.

Anthony Wells, associate director of YouGov’s political and social research team comments: “With the public split over Cameron’s proposal, it will be interesting to see whether this develops into a major issue for the Coalition Government to deal with.”