Temperance movement involved in setting alcohol guidelines while the drinks industry is sidelined.

A report in The Times has suggested that the plans submitted and carried out back in January to lower the UK’s suggested alcohol limits were drawn up by members of the Institute of Alcohol Studies (IAS) which is a lobby group financed by the temperance movement.

An insider allegedly told The Times that the group, which contains a panel of experts, included a number of anti-drink lobbyists.

The new guidelines, published in January 2016 and led by Dame Sally Davies, saw the official UK drinking guidelines lowered from 21 to just 14 units for men, the same level as for women, which equates to six pints of average strength beer or seven glasses of wine a week. The report also claimed that any amount of drinking increases the risk of a range of cancers and that there is “no safe level” of drinking for women who are pregnant.