Pubs could be forced to close their doors early under “nanny state” measures to target harmful drinking.
In a move to roll back the “Continental cafe-style of drinking culture” introduced by Sir Tony Blair, Andrew Gwynne, the public health minister, said the Government was considering “tightening up the hours of operation” of bars and pubs.
Mr Gwynne said the idea was being examined by ministers as part of efforts to improve health and tackle anti-social behaviour.
Prof Sir Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, has told ministers that if current trends continue, 60 per cent of the NHS budget will eventually be spent on diseases that could have been prevented. The current figure is 40 per cent.
The crackdown on drinking is under consideration alongside measures to target obesity, including pushing the food industry to reduce the fat, sugar and salt content of everyday foods.
Insisting Labour was “not the fun police” nor “supernanny”, Mr Gwynne said the case for such measures was both moral and economic.
He said the state of Britain’s poor health was “morally reprehensible” and that “bluntly there isn’t enough money” for the NHS to cope with rising demand without such actions.
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer said Labour was considering banning smoking in pub gardens, despite warnings it could be the “death knell” of the pub.
Speaking at the Labour conference, Mr Gwynne said: “These are discussions that we have got to have – even if it’s just about tightening up on some of the hours of operation; particularly where there are concerns that people are drinking too much.”
Chris Snowdon, the head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said the move was at odds with the introduction of laws allowing pubs to apply for 24-hour drinking licences under Sir Tony’s government.
“The last Labour government’s decision to relax licensing laws was a great success but it seems the new Government wants to hammer pubs any way it can,” he said.
Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, said a shift to prevention of disease instead of treatment was key to averting the need for tax rises, insisting the public was “ahead of” politicians in seeking measures to protect their health.
The Prime Minister has created a health mission board, chaired by Mr Streeting, under which ministers from other departments are asked to consider the health benefits and risks of all their policies.
Mr Gwynne said the board was working on a five-point plan, encompassing smoking, obesity, alcohol, inactivity and clean air, ahead of the spending review.
He said: “Alcohol harm is one of the key areas: the availability of alcohol, the harms that overdrinking does, domestic violence, the licensing laws.”
The minister said a clampdown in licensing hours could cut crime as well as improving health.
“Actually there is a big win for the Home Office because a lot of domestic violence they have to deal with is as a direct consequence of alcohol,” Mr Gwynne said.
Asked about Sir Chris’s views on reining in licensing laws, he said: “He is very keen that there is a refresh of the licensing laws”, with alcohol-related deaths having risen a third since 2019.
A Department for Health spokesman said: “It is categorically untrue that the Government is considering changing alcohol licensing hours.”
The hospitality industry said any restriction to licensing hours would be “half-baked” and could force even more closures at a time when 50 pubs were closing every month.
Mr Snowdon said: “We already have 50 pubs a month closing and any move to ban outside smoking and restrict hours will put more at risk.
“Ministers’ full-throated support for nanny-state measures is very concerning and should be resisted for the protection of this country’s heritage.”
The Government has held two meetings of its health mission board, which is chaired by Mr Streeting.
His public health minister said that at the first meeting, Sir Chris “set out in particularly stark terms the challenge facing the Government”.
Mr Gwynne said: “To put it bluntly, there isn’t enough money to carry on with the rate of demand.
“At the moment 40 per cent of the NHS budget is spent on preventive disease – the consequence of it. If we just stay as we are putting more money into it, meeting the demographic challenges, it rises to 60 per cent. Now that is not sustainable.”
Sir Chris’s presentation showed that women in poorer areas have a life expectancy of just 70, compared with 80 in more affluent parts. It also showed that those in the poorest areas fall into ill-health by the age of 52.
Mr Gwynne said: “That is a moral scandal but it is also the economics of the madhouse.
“That’s why Wes [Streeting] says we are not in the game of being the fun police, or ‘supernanny’ wanting to bear down on all the fun things in life.
“This is actually an economic argument and a moral argument that it is not sustainable and it is morally reprehensible that someone falls into ill-health at the age of 52 with entirely preventable disease.”
The Labour MP said he also wanted to see more action to enforce the current licensing regime and more prompt action to close down pubs that break licensing laws.
Alcohol deaths have risen since 2019, with more than 10,000 deaths from alcohol-related causes.
On Monday, Mr Streeting told a fringe meeting at the conference that the next spending review “will be mission driven”, saying: “I think the public have been ahead of our politicians for some time, and wanting real action on public health.”
He said that without a shift to prevention, backed by NHS reform, Britain would see higher taxes, or more people forced to go private. The health service was “one of the biggest fiscal risks to the future of our public financing”, he said.
“The choice is health service reform, or no health service and public health reform, or higher costs of healthcare, either through higher taxes, or more people paying to go private because the health service isn’t there for them when they need,” he said.
Prof Sir Ian Gilmore, the chairman of Alcohol Health Alliance UK, said: “We welcome any move by this Government to reduce alcohol harm using evidence-based policies such as tackling licensing hours. However, this must include off-trade premises as well as pubs and bars. It is scandalous that a bottle of vodka can still be bought at 2am in a petrol station.”
Kate Nicholls, the chief executive of UKHospitality, said licensing reforms had not been raised with the sector.
She said: “As the Deputy Prime Minister said, when businesses thrive, the economy thrives. That means cutting barriers to growth, not creating them, and fostering positive dialogue between government and businesses. The last thing anyone needs are half-baked plans thrust upon them, to the detriment of trading.”
Mr Gwynne said the Government was examining a wide range of measures to tackle childhood obesity, including “greater reformulation so that the food that we buy, the processed food, is healthier than it currently is”.
He said ministers were keen to work with the industry so that they changed the content of everyday foods, reducing the content of fat, sugar and salt, instead of being forced to by regulation.
“We don’t want to introduce regulation, we want to work with industry as far as we can,” the minister said, saying food manufacturers had so far proved “very receptive”.
“I think they recognise it’s the only game to play and if they don’t, regulation is coming,” he said.
