The House of Lords has been urged to serve weaker wine in its canteens to spare peers’ health and stop them getting sozzled too quickly.
Labour’s Lord Harrison has called on the catering services in parliament to cut the strength of their house wine which he claims has been increasing.
He said: “I’ve noticed over the years that the percentage of alcohol in the table wine in the Lords is creeping up. Recently we’ve replaced a 12.5% wine with one that’s 13.5%. It’s a health issue.”
Lord Harrison also called on supermarkets to stock lighter wines and restaurants to offer a range of strengths.
He added: “There’s a ready market for lighter wines but most of the chains have been fairly unresponsive.
“As a nation we’re getting to understand wine better. We need to learn to enjoy it rather than drinking it to try and crash out on 14% wine because it gets us sozzled quicker.”
But critics of the unelected House of Lords have seized on his words.
SNP constitution spokesman Pete Wishart MP said: “The Lords must be on something given some of the nonsense they come out with now we know.
“Cutting the strength of the wine they drink should be a start to scrapping the Lords completely.”
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