Prime Minister - Afternoon press briefing from 3 March 2008

Licensing Review

Asked about the Licensing Review being published tomorrow, the PMS said that it was important to see the review as a staging post in terms of the action the Government was taking, rather than being the final word on the matter. There would be announcements from DCMS and the Home Office, looking at the way in which the new licensing laws were operating and how they were being enforced.

It was important to remember alongside this, the Action Plan on young people and alcohol from DCSF and a Department of Health Review of evidence on the relationship between pricing, promotion and harm being published later in the year. So it was more of an ongoing process, rather than a definitive final conclusion one way or the other.

Put that the Chancellor had said in an interview in February that he didn't think putting up taxes on alcohol was the best way to tackle binge-drinking and was that a view shared by the Prime Minister, the PMS replied that the view of the Prime Minister was that tax was a matter for the Chancellor in the Budget. Asked if the Prime Minister was putting pressure on the Chancellor to change his views on the subject, the PMS said he did not know where the journalist was going with that line of questioning and suggested that all questions in regards to the Chancellor should be addressed to the Treasury.

Asked when the reviews from the Department of Health and DCSF were expected to report back, the PMS said a bit later in the year.

Asked whether the Government thought the Licensing Act had worked or not, the PMS said people would find out tomorrow.

Asked whether the term staging post meant that it was too early to make a definitive statement as to how well the Licensing Act had gone, the PMS said it was a reflection of the fact that it was a complex issue. It affected a whole range of Government departments and affected different parts of the country in different ways. It was a very complex piece of legislation with a complex social impact. There would be an assessment of it tomorrow, but what we were saying was that this was not necessarily the final word on the matter.

Asked if the Government was opening itself up to the charge of dithering, the PMS replied that that was not the case. It was a reflection of the fact that this was a complex piece of legislation with a very complex impact.

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