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HFSS-style restrictions on alcohol advertising have been canned

Plans to restrict the advertising of alcohol as part of the government’s 10-year plan for the NHS have been scrapped following widespread industry backlash.

Following extensive lobbying from the industry and backlash from ministers, the Department for Health & Social Care has significantly watered down proposals to tackle alcohol-related harm, multiple sources have told The Grocer. 

A plan for HFSS-style restrictions on alcohol advertising pre-watershed and online have been removed over concerns of the impact on economic growth, as well as the challenges around implementation, and a reported backlash from US drinks companies. 

Meanwhile, minimum unit pricing in England has also been left out of the 10 Year Health Plan. However, there is likely to be a commitment to look at cancer labelling on alcoholic drinks packaging. 

“Agressive lobbying” by alcoholic drinks suppliers had caused the government’s strategy to tackle alcohol harm to be “stripped”, said Jem Roberts, head of external affairs at the Institute of Alcohol Studies. 

“One of the main goals of the 10 Year Health Plan was to ‘shift from treatment to prevention’ – yet if reports are accurate, all of the prevention policies for one of the leading causes of death have been stripped out,” he said. “That would be a baffling contradiction at the heart of a plan meant to prioritise prevention.

“The last government strategy to tackle alcohol harm was stripped bare after aggressive alcohol industry lobbying. Alcohol giants making billions from harm will be rubbing their hands in glee. Ministers must now stand up to private corporate profits, protect the most vulnerable, and, if alcohol is too ‘difficult’ for the 10-year plan, commit to a standalone alcohol strategy where all evidence is reviewed and all cards put openly on the table.”

Read more: Banning alcohol advertising would hammer Britain’s beleaguered booze industry

The government, which had not responded to The Grocer at the time of publication, plans to publish its 10 Year Health Plan in full later this week. 

It is likely to include a mandate for supermarkets to encourage shoppers to buy healthier food and drink.

This could include offering discounts on healthy foods, or changing loyalty schemes to promote more nutritious products over heavily processed or calorific options. 

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