by Sunny Hundal

The Manchester Evening News today quoted David Cameron as saying:

I think if what you’re trying to do is stop supermarkets from selling 20 tins of Stella for a fiver that’s what we’ve got to go after. Where I want to try and help is ending the deep discounting on alcohol

The newspaper reported he was “very supportive” of plans to create a by-law that would make it illegal for pubs and shops to sell alcohol for less than 50p per unit within their boundaries.

20 tins of Stella for a fiver?? In the UK?

Channel 4’s Factcheck does some digging:

According to price comparison website mySupermaket, Tesco and Ocado offer the cheapest price right now on 20 cans of Stella. A pack of the 5.2 per cent strength lager would set you back £15 – three times what Cameron suggested. But what about all those cut-price promotions? We asked the five biggest UK supermarket chains just how cheaply they’ve sold Stella Artois. So far, no one we spoke to could remember flogging cans for 25p each – the bargain Cameron claimed to have spotted.

Using bad statistics to promote their policies? Where have we seen that before?

In fact, with Home secretary Theresa May massaging alcohol-related crime figures to call for an end to “24 hour cafe drinking culture”.

Is Cameron’s team under the influence?

Update: Political Scrapbook has mocked this up