Drinks bosses slam alcohol-related deaths forecast

Drinks bosses have slammed evidence which says there will be up to 30,000 alcohol-related deaths in the next 20 years, claiming official statistics were ignored.

A letter to the Times, signed by the UK drinks trade’s heaviest hitters, highlights the discrepancy between predictions from three liver specialists regarding the number of alcohol-related deaths, and official figures form the Office of National Statistics.

It states: “It would be unfortunate if the facts about alcohol misuse got lost during the debate,” adding that the 18,000-30,000 predicted deaths in England and Wales are “far removed” from ONS statistics published in January.

“They (the ONS statistics) show the number of alcohol-related deaths in England and Wales in 2009 was actually 7,705, a slight reduction on the previous year.

“Crucially, the authors’ projection makes no mention of the fact that average alcohol consumption has fallen by 11% since 2004.”

The drinks bosses agree they should play a part in addressing alcohol misuse, “as we already do," but call for a sensible approach based on the “best available evidence”.

The letter was signed by Simon Litherland managing director of Diageo GB, Stuart McFarlane, president of AB-InBev UK; Tim Martin, JD Wetherspoon’s chairman; Mark DeWitte, chief executive of Bacardi UK; James Lousada, commercial general manager for Constellation Wines Australia and Europe and Jean-Manuel Spriet, chief executive of Pernod Ricard UK.