British Prime Minister David Cameron on Friday announced plans to introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol in a bid to combat binge drinking which is costing the country billions of pounds a year in health care, days off work, and police budgets.

Cameron said binge drinking accounts for half of all alcohol consumed, and the crime and violence it causes drains resources in hospitals, generates mayhem on streets and spreads fear in communities.

He launched the Alcohol Strategy (AS) which is expected to help save Britain an estimated 21-billion-pound (about 33 billion U.S. dollars) cost each year of irresponsible drinking.

The AS calls for a minimum unit price for alcohol at possibly 0.4 pounds.

It recommends a ban for multi-buy discount deals, which means if you buy a lot of the same brand you get a big discount, and also recommends that drunken behavior in hospital emergency units, which can be full of drunken victims of violence on Friday and Saturday nights, is not tolerated.

It also recommends that bars, pubs and clubs pay a levy to help pay for policing and that landlords get stronger powers to stop serving drunk people.

The government will now begin a consultation process that will last until the summer, and will then draw up legislation for parliament to consider.

Cameron said the move would not hurt Britain's traditional pub culture.

"If the minimum price is 40 pence a unit, it won't affect the price of a pint. In fact, pubs may benefit by making the cheap alternatives in supermarkets more expensive," the prime minister said.

The price of a pint of beer in a British pub is now often 3 pounds or more, while beer that can be bought in bulk from supermarkets can be as low as 3 pounds for 12 cans.

Many pubs have closed over the last few years as a result of this competition from cheap alcohol sales in supermarkets.

Chief Constable Jon Stoddart of the Association of Chief Police Officers said, "I welcome the government's new approach that will help reduce the availability of cheap alcohol, give communities a greater say over licensing in their area and reduce pressure on the police."

"This is a victory for common sense. We cannot carry on with a situation where it's cheaper to buy cans of lager than a can of Coca-Cola," said Eric Appleby, chief executive of Alcohol Concern, a national agency on alcohol misuse.

"We fully support the government in taking action to clamp down on booze at pocket money prices and protect the health of our children and young people," Appleby added.

"Healthcare workers who struggle every day to cope with the impact of our nation's unhealthy drinking will welcome tough new policies in areas such as price and licensing that are based on evidence and should bring about real benefits," said Professor Ian Gilmore of the Royal College of Physicians.

However, industry bodies were concerned by the move.

Andrew Opie, food director of the British Retail Consortium (BRC) which represents retail businesses, said minimum pricing was a "tax on responsible drinkers."

"David Cameron is seriously misguided. It's simplistic to imagine a minimum price is some sort of silver bullet solution to irresponsible drinking. It's a myth to suggest that supermarkets are the problem or that a pub is somehow a safer drinking environment," he said.

The Portman Group, which represents drinks producers, was also against the plan.

Its chief executive Henry Ashworth said, "For this strategy to be successful, it must not penalize the vast majority who drink responsibly or unfairly burden businesses." (1 pound = 1.6 U.S. dollars)

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