Diageo continues to reject a link between cheap drinks and alcohol-related harm in the UK. The Smirnoff distiller's head of corporate social responsibility in the UK, Mark Baird, told a Parliamentary committee that there is no evidence of a link between pricing and alcohol harm. "There's no evidence that pricing does work," Baird told the House of Lords Science and Technology committee 19 January. His comments show that the UK drinks industry's biggest producer is sticking to its guns, despite the Government's announcement this week that it will ban drinks sales at 'below tax' prices. Baird said that the excess consumption in the UK is connected to "patterns of drinking" among particular consumer groups. Overall alcohol consumption in the UK, he said, has been in decline since 2004.
