UK: New mothers swap fruit vouchers for booze and cigarettes
26th February 2011
Hundreds of thousands of new and expectant mothers are given shopping coupons worth up to £322 a year, per child, in a bid to ensure that they feed their families healthily.
The programme, which gives 600,000 women on benefits vouchers specifically for milk, fruit and vegetables, was introduced by Labour four years ago, replacing a Second World War scheme which provided only free milk.
As well as trading vouchers for alcohol and cigarettes, supermarkets and small convenience stores had allowed them to be used to pay for nappies, baby products, general groceries, bread, eggs and meat, the report found.
My, what a surprise. Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprised.
Markets work even when you don’t want them to.