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Thanks to Taf for pointing this out on Twitter.

Since no-one wants a hike in excise duty, and minimum pricing is legally dubious, the VFI and LVA have come up with a "Lid Levy" as a way of increasing the Exchequer's take and helping reduce binge drinking.

In short, it's an extra 15% tax on the drink you buy in the off licence.

How they're presenting this with a straight face I do not know. Why, for one thing, do they think further crippling the off trade will help them? 15% on a can of beer is not going to make it a comparable offer to a pint in a pub. And they're totally accepting that price rises are the way to promote responsible drinking [i:145qcns3]as long as the rises don't affect their take[/i:145qcns3].

Depressing stuff. Here's the VFI's press release[/url:145qcns3].

So, the standard 'vintners kicking the offies in the teeth' proposal then. Maybe NOFLA will respond with a 'unique and innovative' Tap Tax.

Do they think this will stop me bringing my hip flask with me on a night out? They are mistaken.

This is fucking typical. Keep bashing the competition while the neo-prohibitionists make further strides. The only certainty here is that it will us, the customers, the tax payers who end up footing the bill as usual.

It appears that the tack has changed as they realise the legal challenges in implementing a minimum unit price, taxation is the easier way to go.

Taxation that's a) legal and b) affects everyone except themselves.

It looks like a lot of thought went into hiring a first-string law firm to advise on the legality of the proposal and zero thought into the question "How is this going to make us look?"