The Campaign for Smarter Drinking has been developed by the Project 10 taskforce, set up following a summit with Gordon Brown where he challenged the trade to pool resources to create an initiative addressing the issue of excessive drinking. Funds for the social marketing push will be spent over the next five years and have been secured from 45 groups across the industry including retailers,…

The online push will run from this month until the beginning of September and is the latest phase in Pernod’s Accept Responsibility campaign. It will include banner ads on websites such as MSN, Facebook and Yahoo, and audio and visual ads on new digital music service Spotify. The ads are designed to encourage consumers to reflect on their personal drinking choices by confronting them with…

But the Department of Culture, Media & Sport has warned there are no plans to speed up the processing of applications. Licensing minister Gerry Sutcliffe said on Tuesday: “Those with a legitimate interest, such as local residents and the police, need sufficient time to consider applications and make representations. “However, the Department is currently developing proposals to enable fully electronic applications which will have the…

The Wine & Spirit Association has slammed calls from a leading police officer to introduce an 80p-per-unit minimum price on alcohol. Mike Craik, the National Association of Chief Police Officers’ national spokesman on licensing, made the call at a conference in London. He also made the case for a total ban on alcohol advertising. Under Craik’s proposals, a bottle of Smirnoff would have a minimum…

Christopher Osborne, 49, of Bromley, was sentenced to four-and-a-half years for his part in an operation which evaded an estimated £18 million in excise duty, and traded some 78 million cigarettes, Isleworth Crown Court heard. Osborne’s son, Jack, 23, was sentenced to one year. The pair were caught at a lock-up in East London on May 3 last year over 2 million cigarettes and £79,980…

Drinks were seized during a joint operation between West Mercia Police and HM Revenue & Customs during the latest raid, which took place in a convenience store in the Worcestershire town. Police say they found a “substantial quantity” of beers, wines and spirits on sale without the duty having been paid, which have been confiscated. PC Neil Sharpe, licensing officer for Redditch, said: “The revenue…

The proposals recommend that retailers be forced to display information on the alcohol units of drinks they sell and on the health impacts of alcohol. But the plans stop short of a minimum pricing regime suggested by chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson, though they do call for further research into the issue. Failure to comply with the new code could result in the loss…