An important piece of research was published this week about minimum pricing, which sets a floor price of 50p on a unit of alcohol in Scotland. As part of the Scottish government’s official evaluation, a group of researchers studied heavy drinkers and found no evidence that they had reduced their alcohol consumption, no evidence that their health had improved, and quite a bit of evidence that they were suffering financially. 



The report was all the more compelling for having been co-authored by the academics who had previously published modelling studies which suggested that the policy would have a beneficial effect on heavy drinkers. Before it was introduced, campaigners claimed that minimum pricing was ‘exquisitely targeted’ at heavy drinkers. 



I have always had my doubts about the modelling and the policy. Demand for alcohol is highly inelastic for heavy drinkers and it seemed to me that the Scottish government was putting too much weight on flawed theoretical modelling from a single group of researchers. The costs of the policy were obvious – it has cost Scottish drinkers £270 million so far – but the benefits were not. This new report, taken together with evidence showing that minimum pricing had no impact on crime and no impact on alcohol-related A&E attendances, suggests that we sceptics were right all along. 

I was quoted in The Telegraph, Daily Mail, Scottish Express and the Scottish Sun discussing the report.

Alas, it is unlikely that minimum pricing will be the high watermark of the nanny state. No sooner had it been debunked than an ‘independent review of tobacco control’ was calling for an extraordinary smorgasbord of extreme anti-smoking measures, including raising the age at which tobacco can be bought every year.  

It never ends. 

Christopher Snowdon
Head of Lifestyle Economics, Institute of Economic Affairs

STUB IT OUT 

Earlier this week, the government published its independent review into current tobacco control policies, led by Dr Javed Khan OBE. In order to achieve a smoke-free England by 2030, the review recommends raising the age at which people can buy tobacco in England from 18 to 21. The age would then rise year by year so that eventually no-one can buy cigarettes.

Other recommendations include painting cigarettes green, putting health warnings on individual cigarettes, banning people from smoking in council housing, outlawing duty free sales, hiking the price of cigarettes to nearly £20 a pack, and banning films which show tobacco use on television before 9pm.



IEA Head of Lifestyle Economics Christopher Snowdon described the report as the pinnacle of "nanny state extremism". He dismissed Khan's proposals as "crackpot" and urged the government to ensure efforts to reduce smoking do not come at the expense of civil liberties. His comments were reported in The Telegraph and The Sun.



Chris also appeared on Sky News, TalkTV and GB News to discuss the report. In an article for The New Statesman, Chris noted that raising the smoking age from 18 to 21 would amount to the "incremental prohibition" of tobacco.



IEA Head of Public Policy Matthew Lesh appeared on BBC News to discuss the recommendations, which he called "a question of people's individual liberty". Watch here.

And quoted in City AM, Matt warned that tobacco prohibition could create "a gigantic criminal black market" for cigarettes.

1. The first 50 people to use the code Hayek get a free ticket to THINK!
2. Use the code THINK2022! for a discounted ticket of £5 and a free IEA book.
    

COMMUNICATION BREAKDOWN

Last week, the IEA released Communication Breakdown: How reforming the Electronic Communications Code could speed up 5G rollout, a new briefing paper by IEA Academic and Research Director Dr James Forder.

The research highlights how landowners, including farmers, churches and community groups, have started to resist the siting of essential equipment such as masts on their land, which makes the expansion of the 5G network much harder – or impossible. This has happened because legislation in 2017 reduced, sometimes very substantially, the rents paid to landowners for the use of their land.



Dr Forder recommends that the government takes the opportunity (through the Product Security and Telecommunications Infrastructure Bill, which is now before Parliament), to undo the mistake of 2017 and set the rules so that telecommunications companies have to pay fair rents for fair usage of other people’s land.

James said: The price mechanism is a fantastically powerful tool. It is baffling that the Government seems determined to stop it operating, thereby depriving landowners of a fair return on their land, and slowing down 5G rollout at the same time. There is an urgent need to allow the market to function.”



The paper was reported across the media including in The Sun on Sunday and The Sunday Express. The report also featured in trade publications such as Farmers Weekly, Farming Online, Farmers Guardian, Telecoms.com and Mobile Europe.



James wrote for Conservative Home and IEA Communications and Public Affairs Officer Kieran Neild-Ali discussed the findings in an article for CapX. You can read the full report here.

iN THE MEDIA



Railway walkout... This week, the RMT rail union threatened a summer of chaos across the UK after talks over pay and redundancy fell through. The union is preparing for strike action that would grind the railways to a halt in late June.

In an article for CapX, IEA Editorial and Research Fellow Professor Len Shackleton said the union's demands are "irreconcilable with the parlous state of railways finances" and suggested the government would do well to clamp down on the disruptive and often unjustified rail strikes. He discussed the rail strike on GB News and BBC Radio 2 (Listen from 9 mins). 



The Northern Ireland problem... On BBC The View, IEA Head of Regulatory Affairs Victoria Hewson discussed possible solutions to the Northern Ireland Protocol, including 'mutual enforcement' or 'dual autonomy'. You can watch highlights here or the whole programme here.



LBC Cross Question... On Wednesday evening, IEA Head of Public Policy Matthew Lesh appeared on LBC Cross Question to discuss the day's main headlines and take questions from callers. When discussing the performance of the NHS, Matthew suggested we need to have an open discussion about alternative healthcare models which may better serve patients. Watch here. 



Time for a radical new agenda... After Boris Johnson won a slim majority in a vote of no confidence, Matthew Lesh argued in The Telegraph that the Prime Minister must adopt a clear, coherent and ambitious policy agenda to survive. 

Matthew argued: "A radical agenda would not please everyone, but it could win back a chunk of the backbench — solidifying the leadership — and show the public that he really is doing something". 



Safe as houses... On Thursday, Boris Johnson announced plans to allow benefits to be put towards mortgages in England. He committed to extending the right to buy scheme to housing association tenants, and said Universal Credit claimants would get to choose whether to spend their benefits on rent or put them towards a mortgage.

Matthew warned the proposals will do little to tackle the housing crisis: "The focus on the mortgage market is misguided. The reason people cannot afford homes is because of a fundamental lack of supply, which has driven up prices in places people want to live". Read here.



DCMS power grab... The government is under pressure to water down the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport's powers in the Online Safety Bill, after experts suggested the bill could grant Nadine Dorries excessive powers to determine legal but harmful speech online.

Quoted in City AM, Matthew Lesh warned that the bill "could be used to seriously undermine freedom of expression, setting arbitrary limits on what is acceptable speech online, beyond the original intentions of Parliament".



Energy shambles... The price of petrol experienced its biggest daily increase in 17 years this week. A litre of petrol cost an average of 180.7p per litre on Tuesday, a 2.2p increase on the previous day.

Writing for the Express, IEA Energy Analyst Andy Mayer criticised the government's "unserious" energy strategy. He argued the government cannot at the same time pander to Net Zero dogma and also increase affordable supply of energy. 

Discussing the energy crisis on GB News, Andy argued we should reconsider the ban on fracking, noting that "the risks of fracking are known, quantifiable and can be mitigated". Watch here.

CALLING ALL STUDENTS!

We are excited to launch the Economic Thought Leaders’ Symposium at the University of Buckingham from 7-9 September 2022.

The theme for this year’s programme is The Economics of War and Peace. We will discuss topics like trade not war, international institutions, diplomacy and game theory. To apply, please send a CV and cover letter explaining why you’d like to attend, as well as 500 words on promoting the reconstruction of an economy after a war to [email protected] by 17 June 2022. You can find out more here.



We have launched the 2022 Dorian Fisher Essay Competition. Named after the beloved wife of our founder Sir Antony Fisher, this is our biggest essay competition of the year, exclusively for A-Level and IB students.

First prize will receive £500, with a separate prize of £500 for the school with the highest number of entrants. The deadline for this year’s competition is Friday 29 July 2022. You can find out more here.