Monday 3 December 2012

Nannying Fussbucket of the day - another illiberal Liberal Democrat: Jenny Willott MP

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I do sometimes wonder whether there remains anyone in the Liberal Democrat Party who actually possesses a shred of belief in liberalism. Each day I see another example of a Liberal Democrat politician advocating something that restricts freedom and limits choice.

Today it's Jenny Willott who thinks that the poorer residents over her inner-city constituency should be made to pay more for a bottle of wine:

"We need to do much more to tackle this problem - alcohol abuse is not only destroying the lives of individuals and families, it is also a huge burden on society as a whole.

"These measures are not about stopping responsible drinking but designed to tackle the minority who cause alcohol-related crime and disorder in our local communities, as we see each weekend in Cardiff.

"This is something I feel very strongly about and have been calling for action on for years. I am delighted that the Government is proposing to introduce a minimum price for alcohol, and encourage as many people as possible to contribute to the consultation to ensure we get this vital policy right."

I'd love to understand what strange process goes through the minds of these Liberal Democrat MPs - forget about the facts, let's get a headline in the local rag by proposing yet another illiberal restriction, control of ban! I can only suppose that political parties are not subject to the trades descriptions acts!

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3 comments:

Curmudgeon said...

"I do sometimes wonder whether there remains anyone in the Liberal Democrat Party who actually possesses a shred of belief in liberalism."

Indeed.

Mind you, I expect she'll be toast in the 2015 GE.

Anonymous said...

Jenny Wilmott MP is completely counterposed to reality: "These measures are not about stopping responsible drinking but designed to tackle the minority who cause alcohol-related crime and disorder in our local communities, as we see each weekend in Cardiff."
How can a price floor on the units of all alcohol drinks possibly be described as 'targeted'?
Why will this price floor affect those who commit crime and create disorder but not those who drink responsibly?
Why will this price floor reduce the consumption of heavier drinkers more than moderate consumers, despite this assertion being the exact opposite of what the study of price elasticity informs us?
We should continue to monitor the growth in this species of Liberal Democrat.

Curmudgeon said...

The vast majority of those causing alcohol-related disorder will have been drinking in pubs and bars. While they might have done a bit of "pre-loading", surely the way to stop that is to enforce the law against being drunk and disorderly properly. Once it got around that people were spending a night in the cells the message would get through.

"We should continue to monitor the growth in this species of Liberal Democrat."

I confidently predict it will be close to extinction after May 2015.