Every bottle of wine should cost 5p more to pay for the cost of treating alcoholics on the NHS, MPs demand
PLANS to slap wine and beer with an extra 5p tax to help problem drinkers have been slammed by campaigners.
Health groups and MPs say that Brits should pay one per cent more for a tipple to help alcoholics with their treatment.
That could mean an extra 3p on the average pint of beer - and would raise £100million a year to improve service and slash NHS.
Campaigners say this could help reduce the £17billion NHS bill that the forecast is set to face in the coming years.
The report said the problem of cheap booze needed to be "urgently tackled" and that there should be minimum unit pricing brought in after Brexit -
The drink drive limit should also be slashed too, the study says.
But a spokesperson for the Alcohol Information Partnership slammed the plans for a tax which would hit all Brits - even ones who drank in moderation.
They said: "UK taxpayers are already paying some of the highest levels of duty in Europe and this proposal will place an even greater burden on ordinary drinkers and the thousands of people in the hospitality industry who this tax rise would hit hardest."
Beer drinkers in Britain already face sky-high taxes on alcohol - with beer duty in the UK the third highest in Europe.
Theresa May is already facing fury from MPs over plans to add 4p to the price of a print in a £100million Budget day raid.
More than 30 Tories have signed a letter urging ministers to ditch the plans to hike it even more.
Tory MP Nigel Mills told The Sun Online Brits were already facing huge taxes on alcohol and the latest ideas for another tax should be binned.
He stormed: "They can use that tax to give extra assistance.
"Penalising moderate drinkers to pay for those with problems is simply not fair and should be rejected."
And John O'Connell, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance also slammed the plans.
He said: "Yet more punishment taxes on things people enjoy is making Britain a more dull place to live, but these charges are also deeply unfair.
"Most drinkers, in other words, most adults, don't create more health spending or more crime, so the case for charging all drinkers the costs of those problems is very weak.
"There is no good reason why a law-abiding, moderate drinker should pay more of the costs for problem drinkers than a non-drinker, and this unfair idea should be binned."
Drugs, Alcohol and Justice Cross-Party Parliamentary Group co-chairwoman Mary Glindon said today: "With dozens of alcohol-related deaths across the UK every day, we decided that rather than wait ages for the Government's alcohol strategy, we should promote a programme of actions which could reduce harm levels dramatically."
And Chairwoman of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Harm, Fiona Bruce, said: "With alcohol harm the leading cause of death among 15 to 49-year-olds, Government must urgently take much stronger action to address this."
Proposals for a minimum price for alcohol are still under consideration by ministers.
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Today's call comes as part of a joint push from the Drugs, Alcohol and Justice Cross Party Parliamentary Group, and the APPG on Alcohol Harm - together with 30 other campaign groups.
One million hospital admissions every year are alcohol related, the study notes.
There are more than half a million alcohol dependent adults in England, and 200,000 children living with one, it adds.
That costs the UK up to £11billion every year.
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