NO - JO FIELD, HEAD OF POLICY AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS, BRITISH YOUTH COUNCIL
The focus should be on education, not regulation. Raising the drinking age wouldn't have any real effect in tackling the many alcohol-related issues that are an ever-increasing problem for British society, and it would also remove an element of choice from young people's lives. Effective and widespread education programmes are needed to break the binge drinking culture and to enable young people to make responsible decisions regarding alcohol consumption. YES - JASPER GERARD, COLUMNIST, THE OBSERVER
I say yes reluctantly, because at 21 young people are old enough to get killed in wars and pay taxes. When I was asked by the Institute for Public Policy Research to look into it I was gobsmacked by the figures on the effects of underage drinking. Raising the age would send the message that alcohol is not great. An alternative to this would be to give young people a photo ID smart card that off-licences could swipe, which would show their alcohol consumption.
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