An Early Day Motion (EDM) calling on the Government to curb the sale of super strength lagers by taxing them at a higher rate has attracted the support of 50 MPs.
The EDM was tabled by Martin Linton, MP for Battersea, and has attracted all-party support.
It follows a campaign by homelessness charity Thames Reach to highlight the serious damage to health and premature deaths caused by these super strength lagers which contain 9% alcohol.
A single 500ml can of these drinks contains four and a half units of alcohol. This exceeds the Government’s daily safe alcohol limit of three to four units for men and two to three units for women.
The super strength lagers being targeted include Tennent’s Super, Carlsberg Special Brew, Skol Super and Kestrel Super.
Thames Reach is also calling on the drinks industry to end the production of super strength drinks in line with its commitment to promote the responsible consumption of alcohol.
Martin Linton MP said: “If the Government is advising people not to drink more than four units a day, then it shouldn’t encourage people to buy cans containing four and a half units. That completely undermines its own advice on safe, sensible and sociable drinking.”
Jeremy Swain, Thames Reach Chief Executive, said: “Every year, hundreds of men and women with serious drink problems, many of them homeless, are driven to an early grave by these extraordinarily powerful and destructive drinks.
“We need the government and producers of super strength lagers to accept that the cost of cheap, strong lager that can be purchased with ease from any corner shop is, in human terms, simply too high.”
Thames Reach estimates that 800 of the 4,000 homeless and formerly homeless people it helps each year in London are addicted to super strength lagers.
Super strength lagers are not available in many countries including Ireland and Australia.
