A recent report by the Health Select Committee has stressed that setting a minimum price of 50 pence a unit of alcohol would end up saving as many as 3,000 lives every year across England, and a rise of 40 rises of 40 pence would save 1,100 people.

But last year, the same idea was put forward by Sir Liam Donaldson, the Chief Medical Officer, and Prime Minister Gordon Brown had turned it down saying that it would be unfair and hurt a majority of these who are only moderate drinkers.

The recent report, however, went ahead and dismissed the PM's argument as a "myth widely propagated by parts of the drinks industry" and stressed that the Government policies were influenced more by the drinking industry and various supermarkets, instead of health officials.

If a minimum price of 40 pence a unit is set, a moderate drinker would only by paying 11 pence more every week, the report said.

"It is time the government listened more to the Chief Medical Officer and the President of the Royal College of Physicians and less to the drinks and retail industry. If everyone drank responsibly the alcohol industry might lose about 40 per cent of its sales and some estimates are higher", said the report.

As revealed by the report, alcohol can be purchased for a mere 10 pence per unit at some stores.