Oh .. this one again.
They keep trying don't they.
The byelaw cannot be brought in - it contravenes EU law on cartels and price fixing.
The Irish tried it with minimum pricing on tobacco - the EU have said "Introducing minimum retail prices for cigarettes is against Community law and mainly benefits manufacturers who are able to protect their profit margins"
Have a look at
http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/06/1820&format=HTML&aged=0&language=en&guiLanguage=en

Can these people in AGMA do joined up thinking? How utterly moronic - how will this help cut down on teenage drinking?

I'll tell you what it will do - places like Rochdale - already one of the most badly depressed towns in the country (again mostly due to political interference and mismanagement) and others on the periphery of "great"er Manchester will see yet more trade disappear. I for one live right on the edge of GM (the border is literally my back fence) and I can almost as easily take my business to Rawtenstall Asda or Tesco (and by way of extra dividend not have to fight my way through crowds of scum and other "unfortunates".). I guess I'll be taking my business elsewhere then.

The other alternative is that the might of Tesco/Asda will take this to court and millions will be spent fighting their appeal. I wonder where that money will come from?

Is Manchester now some sort of experimental lab for loony government policy?

Once again Government (with a big G) are trying to control the masses. Local councils are there to organise schooling, waste disposal, roads etc. Apart from that - keep out of my life.

“Eamonn Boylan from Stockport council said: “There is a lot of support to say minimum price is the best mechanism for making the most impact on alcohol consumption”

Well as a Stockport resident I would say to Mr Boylan; - test your assertion with a referendum in Stockport. However were you to lose, I would expect you to resign.

What next – a tax on any item the local council don’t fancy the plebs eating????

Who do these council clowns think they are??

who thinks up the prices? and the money they make on it who benefits from that?cant keep blaming alcohol for deeper social problems

As Captain Clarence correctly states, they cannot do it. Scotland looked at doing it but could not do it.

'Calum Irving, from Manchester-based alcohol awareness pressure group Our Life said: "If you are a sensible drinker you will hardly be affected."'

As has been said before, Our Life isn't a pressure group, it is a fake organisation, created and funded to by the NHS, to create the impression of wider support for NHS, local authority and central government plans.

I say, bring it on. As Captain Clarence Oveur has pointed out, this plan would be illegal and I would be delighted to see the councils which support it getting a good smacking down and all those who have tried to incite this illegal action being put in their place.

Whatever next, A minimum pricing policy at Greggs so the overweight don't eat themselves to death? I'm sick to death of this constant interference and stealth taxing.

What worse is the price for soft drinks in bars, a few weeks back I was the designated driver one bar charged £3.80 for a pint of pineapple and lemonade what the hell is all that about.
However a double vodka and diet coke £2.5 how they can justify this. I know soft drinks are where they make the most profit however surly we should be supporting safe drinking. Instead of the Council trying to stop cheap booze ensure pubs and clubs have a designated driver program.
Hand over your keys for free soft drinks or even half price all night they do in most EU cities these days. No wonder people get drunk its cheap then staying sober.

This stinks a bit. People with drink problems won't stop because they can't afford alcohol, they might just turn to crime or a greater black market will emerge. Drink related anti social behaviour is caused by a minority of idiots and I don't see why the rest of us who enjoy a tipple responsibly should have to suffer because of a few cretins.

Why don't the town hall throw the vote out to the public like they did for the congestion charge. Pretty sure the vote would be massively against the idea once again. Of course they've learnt their lesson from that though haven't they, they won't be letting the people decide anything again.

Greater Manchester to be the guinea pig for yet another hare-brained scheme.

The drunk has always been with us. Do people not read the 'Looking Back' feature on a Saturday? If the authorities have not managed to solve the problem in a hundred years how on earth do they think that making the ordinary person, who likes a glass of wine or cider with their dinner, pay extra will somehouse produce a miracle cure?
People who intend to get smashed will do so, regardless of the price. Higher prices will just mean that they will spend less on essentials or resort to other means to obtain the cash and their pop.

We also hear the politicians and the hand-wringers trotting out the cliche of '24 hour drinking'. Just how many pubs are there that are actually open for 24 hours a day? How many of these are in Greater Manchester?
People have always been able to drink 24 hours a day if they wished - at home - provided that they stocked up first.
Do these prohibitists really mean the 24 hour sale of alcoholic drinks in the 24 hour supermarkets etc? Do they really think that banning a 3am sale in an all night shop will really make a difference when people will just stock up earlier then drink until they drop or their stock is exhausted, whichever happens first?

Now here is another related question. Do we really need 24 hour shopping at all?

I think a referendum is called for, let the people have their say. I'm pretty sure they'd vote No.

Notwithstanding the above (it's unlawful / preposterous)

- what is it with this (£5.50 a litre) "War on Cider" - ?

So if the support for such measures is so great, why aren't AGMA offered its residents - ie, those who pay its taxes, and its salaries, too - a referendum? We know the answer to that one, don'rt we, boys and girls?

Leaving aside the fact that the implementation of such an system would be illegal, it is of more concern that proposals such as this continually appear, as those who would welcome a Police state (for the good of the people, naturally) "push the envelope" to see just what they CAN get away with in their efforts to bring in their jackboot government.

Think I'm exaggerating? Cast your mind back over the last fifteen years, and ask yourself how many crimes have been created, and how many freedoms you''ve lost....

Wont work as people will buy it from other places, why dont the 10 brainless councils impose a minimum price on fattening foods like chips, pizza's, cakes etc etc get the fat obese kids slimmer, oh they daren't do that it would upset the US makers of these trans fat foods

Its not cheap booze that needs banning its the sale of the booze on every corner in sweet shops and local food stores.When you sell booze on the same shelves that children buy their sweets from. Years ago the only place you buy could buy booze from was "outdoors licenced shops" I find it disgusting that very young children can buy sweets in the same shop that drunks etc but their booze ,And we wonder why our kids are drinking at a young age.

This is all about social engineering. The Government don't want the working classes drinking in pubs so they are forcing the pubs to close but it doesn't affect the drinkers because boze is cheap at the supermarkets at the moment.

When all the pubs have gone you will see a hike in the unit price of alcohol.

I asssume heroin and cocaine on the street will stay unregulated!

I would be more impressed if Mr Boylan could get my empties removed on a regular basis.
On the two most recent occasions I have put my brown glass recycling bin out, it has been returned by his staff still half full.

Won't this just cause retailers to push up the prices for products that already above the 50p threshold?

Who's going to buy 6 Carlings for £6 when you can get something like 6 Peroni for the same price?

The Peroni will go up in price, so Calum Irving is talking rubbish.

If they bring this in; I'll just buy my drink on the cheap from a mate who takes a van over to the continent. And I wont be the only one. So the Govt. will lose out goodness knows how much on tax/excise.

they are trying tro tax us for their own failings, like enforcing age limits,onto responsible drinkers who will pay

Your stupid plan won't work. We are being over controlled in every aspect of our lives by the government and people are waking and revolting. This kind of thing will tip the scale.
Try it if you dare. You'll have major trouble do deal with. Idiots.

Look like the drink supermarkets on the continent are in for aa busy time again.
I for one will be filling the van on the occasional excursion ...at the expense of the English Supermarkets.

This is gonna be impossible to enforce,people will drive to lancashire cheshire merseyside or yorkshire to pick up their drink to avoid this beaureaucratic rubbish.

Will just mean people will go across the GM border and buy their booze elsewhere! Other areas close by won't follow as they will get all the business from GM!!!

Can we please tell the local politicians that they are not HM Government who we elect to frame and make laws and that locally their job is to run the services the citizens want at minimum cost! Manchester thinks it's the USSR and we know what happened to them.