Ms Evelyn Jones:

What the Deputy is referring to is minimum pricing, with minimum prices set by the Government. What we are referring to is the ban on below-cost selling encapsulated in the Groceries Order, which was repealed in 2006. They are two different things. A minimum price will target alcohol at the very cheapest end of the market, including non-branded alcohol. Such alcohol is of no interest to the large operators in our market. They are interested in premium branded alcohol that they can discount in order to attract footfall into their operations to sell other grocery products, petrol or whatever. They are two different issues.