Government's failures on alcohol have led to health crisis, say MPs

The government’s failure to tackle alcohol harm in England has caused a public health crisis affecting millions of people, according to a damning report by the public accounts committee published today.

- Andrew Gregory

Problem drinking is fuelling violent crime and costing the NHS and wider society £25bn a year, with deaths almost doubling in two decades, the report says. Ministers are accused of slashing funding for support services by hundreds of millions of pounds while breaking promises of action and ditching policies aimed at resolving the crisis.

There has been an “alarming” increase in alcohol-related deaths, which jumped 89% in 20 years, with sharp rises since 2019. At the same time, the number of people able to get treatment for alcohol dependency has been falling, MPs found.

Dan Carden MP, the lead member on the inquiry, said: “Today’s report lays bare the lack of political will to address alcohol harm. The government’s record on alcohol harm is one of policies scrapped and promises broken. Alcohol harm is a deepening public health crisis that affects us all and it is wrong and unfair to believe that it is only alcohol-dependent drinkers who are affected.”

The cross-party committee said government data on how many people were struggling with alcohol problems was out of date, while the costs to the NHS and the economy must be an underestimate.