Morrisons: voluntary super-strength alcohol bans 'could damage individual businesses'

Morrisons has followed Sainsbury’s and come out against the voluntary bans on super-strength alcohol in supermarkets being hatched by councils and police across the UK.

Morrisons claimed the bans were at risk of breaching competition rules and that it was wrong for retailers to collude on proposals that could damage individual businesses.

“We are against any initiative that involves groups of retailers sitting down deciding which products should be on shelves,” said Morrisons head of government affairs Guy Mason. “We are talking about, in some cases, proposals that could put companies out of business.”

Sainsbury’s has already refused to sign up to the schemes and drinks industry figures have raised concerns with the OFT, which has said it is closely monitoring the bans, already being developed in at least 20 areas in the UK.

However, Tesco and The Co-operative Group have agreed to work with councils and police on the schemes.

“We are always open to working with local authorities and other organisations to find new ideas,” said a Co-op Group spokeswoman.