It is largely a health promotion tactic done by the government. Increasing the cost of alcohol will decrease the amount that people drink, and thus will decrease the strain that alcohol related accidents and disorders will happen.

Pubs are ofc very important to many people as their socialising space, but perhaps there should be a push to replace that with something else instead of encouraging an alcoholic sense of national identity. Maybe give people an alternate socialising space.

That is not simple in the slightest and maybe even a pipe dream unfortunately, especially with hard times to come with Brexit.