Daily Telegraph Letters Page

For the first time ever, I have a letter published in the Telegraph (not that I write many to tell the truth).

I wrote it in response to two letters in Saturday's Telegraph; one by Andy Burnham the Health Secretary, regarding minimum alcohol price, which I also wrote about here.

My letter's been shorten somewhat and a couple of words rejigged, but the gist of the content remains intact:

SIR – There are arguments for and against imposing minimum alcohol pricing, but there is one fundamental problem. Such a policy would be in direct breach of article 28 of the European Community Treaty.

Greece and Ireland attempted similar policies with regard to cigarettes and the EU made it very clear that such price controls were illegal.

I find it odd that a government minister is either unaware of this or neglecting to inform us that this is the case. Either way it is another example of the impotency of our elected representatives and Parliament.

I'm slightly saddened that 'willfully' neglecting didn't get pass the sub-editor, but I guess they weren't likely to print a line that implies Andy Burham was being deliberately deceitful.