Prime Minister Under Fire as Minimum Pricing is Dropped

The Prime Minister David Cameron is under increasing pressure to reveal the conversations, if any, which took place between himself and his election guru, Lyton Crosby in what has been the continuation of the controversial lobby scandal.


In what was a rowdy session of Prime Minister's question time, the Leader of the Opposition, Ed Milliband was on the attack, continually pressing the Prime Minister to give an answer over the accusations.

Rowdy scenes at PMQ's today.

'He has caved into big tobacco... in a disgraceful episode', Milliband shouted over the dispatch box this afternoon, with the Prime Minister responding by clarifying that Mr. Crosby had never sought to lobby the government on anything.

Later on today, the Home Office Minister, Jeremy Browne MP confirmed that the proposed minimum pricing for alcohol would not be implemented along with plans to introduce plain packaging for cigarettes, which have been put on hold.
This has led to the eruption of a political row in which the government has been accused of rolling over as a result of the pressure from the alcohol and tobacco industries.

Firstly, we must review the situation at hand, the Labour opposition are supposed to be doing much better at the moment, are they not? They are an opposition party tasked with holding to account a government in the mid term, but yet they are the ones who are being held to account. The influence of the trade unions in rigging candidate selections and chosing the official policies o
f the Labour Party.

In a time where unemployment is falling, the deficit has come down and the outlook for the economy as whole is looking better, where are their alternative policies?

What we are indeed faced with is a desperate opposition party in which their shadow ministers have become the story instead of creating the story. They have become the embarrassment instead of creating the embarrassment and they are the ones being held to account when they should be holding ministers to account. This is an attempt to push the spotlight and the blame away from where it is desperately needed right now.



Minimum pricing for alcohol has been dropped

I personally welcome the decision taken by the government to drop the minimum price of alcohol and the plain packaging of cigarettes because I have always felt that it has been another example of the state 'getting too big for it's boot', so to speak.
We should avoid at all costs a state in which ordinary hard working people are hit with an increase in alcohol per unit in the super markets when all they desire is a bottle of wine or some cans of lager after a difficult day at work. It is another classic case of punishing the many for the behaviour of a few.
As for the plain packaging of cigarettes, for those who actually believe that plain packets for cigarettes will actually improve the state of public health are, I am afraid, misguided. People are already addicted to tobacco and I am sure the last thing which gets people smoking in the first place, is the artistic and enticing designs on the packaging.

These plans were right to be dropped, they wouldn't work and hit those in the pocket who like a casual drink after work. This is common sense, not the work of some inside adviser who has ties with the tobacco industry. Nice try Mr. Milliband, but this is convincing nobody.