Minimum pricing instantly kills off two brands of cider

Irish drinks firm C&C, which owns Tennent’s, said some brands would no longer be “commercially viable”.

The company announced yesterday that it will stop making K and Diamond White cider in the “medium term”.

Minimum pricing will be introduced across Britain after Home Secretary Theresa May announced the plans for England and Wales yesterday to tackle binge drinking culture.

The SNP Government will introduce the measure north of the Border in the next few months, with legislation working its way through Holyrood.

C&C, through its Magners brand, is the second-biggest cider producer, although white ciders only account for less then 10 per cent of its cider output.

“In the medium term, we will replace white cider with standard or premium brands which will be much more mainstream,” a company spokesman said.

The firm backs minimum pricing, which would see a three-litre bottle of white cider which currently sells for £3.99 retail at around £8.80.

The pricing level in Scotland will be higher.

The Westminster coalition has indicated a level of 40p per unit will be implemented in England in Wales. The SNP set a level of 45p two years ago when opposition parties combined to reject it, but a higher level of up to 50p could be announced by Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon in the coming weeks.

Labour in Scotland looks increasingly isolated over its opposition to the measure, after the party at Westminster backed the coalition’s plans. The party at Holyrood has produced its own plans to tackle alcohol problems.

The Tories and Liberal Democrats both back the measure after voting against the plans during the last term at Holyrood.

However, the drinks industry, including the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), says minimum pricing is illegal, and will damage export markets.

The alcohol strategy published by the coalition yesterday will also see the sale of multi-buy discount deals banned, introduces a zero tolerance approach to drunken behaviour in A&E departments and suggests a late-night levy to get pubs and clubs to help pay for policing.

Mrs May said responsible drinkers had “nothing to fear” from the policy, which she said would only deal with the cheapest fifth of alcohol that is currently sold.

The Home Secretary said: “What this is aimed at, is absolutely dealing with this culture which means that some people think that a good night out is actually pre-loading, so drinking at home, getting drunk at home on cheap alcohol, going out, drinking some more, and then causing problems and mayhem in our town centres.

“What we do want to do is to affect the cheapest end of alcohol, where those sorts of offers enable people to really do this.”

Ms Sturgeon said yesterday: “It is very welcome to see the coalition government catching up with the Scottish Government and taking bold action on alcohol misuse.”

She added: “As we have been saying since 2007, no strategy is complete without tackling price. We need to act urgently to stem the flow of cheap, high-strength drink and minimum pricing is the most effective way to do this.”

The coalition announcement also heaps further pressure on health secretary Andrew Lansley. Already facing criticism over the NHS reforms, he has described minimum pricing as an “absurd” tool for tackling drink abuse.

The measure has come under fire from the drinks industry, which fears the price increase will damage export sales and could also be illegal.

An SWA spokeswoman said: “Minimum unit pricing of alcohol would be ineffective in tackling alcohol misuse, has been ruled to be illegal elsewhere in Europe, and would damage the Scotch whisky industry in key export markets as well as at home.

“Research shows it will not reduce the number of hazardous drinkers. It was ruled as illegal as a barrier to trade by the European Court of Justice more than 30 years ago.”

The government insists that public health measures, like minimum pricing, are exempt from these laws, but legal experts told a Holyrood committee recently that this issue would only be settled in court.