Alcohol Policy UK

Wales annonuces Minimum Unit Pricing as Supreme Court prepares Scottish verdict

The Welsh Government has announced plans to see Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) introduced by law as part of a 'comprehensive strategy to tackle harmful and hazardous drinking by tackling the availability and affordability of cheap, strong alcohol'.

The news comes as the long awaited verdict from the UK Supreme Court on Scotland's 2012 legislation is expected imminently. In England, fifty health bodies and other figures including MPs have called on the Government to follow suit and enact UK wide minimum pricing, describing MUP as a 'highly effective tool'.

News & updates July 2017: memory, diabetes benefit?, drunk in charge of a child, school exclusions & more

Selected news and media stories since the June roundup:

Supreme Court judges retired to consider the latest appeal against minimum pricing of alcohol in Scotland, reported BBC News whilst public health experts continued to put forward their case for the policy (eg in the Guardian and Independent). See our report here.

News & updates June 2017: Welsh MUP, white wine, gin lollies, diabetes and hayfever

Selected news and media stories since the May roundup: 

BBC News reported that plans to introduce a new law setting a minimum price for alcohol in Wales could be revived by the Welsh Government, depending on the result of a Supreme Court challenge against similar plans by the Scottish Government.  Meanwhile, the number of alcohol-related deaths in Wales has stabilised following a significant rise towards the end of the last decade, reported WalesOnline.

News & updates February 2017: tax & white cider, lunchtime drinking ban, dry 2017, nightcaps & more

Selected media stories since the January roundup: 

Ahead of the government's spring Budget this week, both 'sides' campaigning for changes in alcohol duty have been seeing some coverage of their calls. The Alcohol Health Alliance and other health groups have been calling for a raise in duties relating to cheap white cider, which were implicated in the recent death of a 16 year old girl - The Mirror. 

News & updates January 2017: liver transplants, BAC wearables, Wales, ketamine, FASD, heart failure & more

Selected media stories since the December roundup:

The NHS chief executive Simon Stevens said binge-drinkers are "selfish to get so blotto" they end up in an ambulance or A&E.  “More than a third of A&E attendances at peak times are caused by drunkenness - casualty nurses and doctors are understandably frustrated about the NHS being used as a national hangover service,” he added. Telegraph

Meanwhile England’s chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies has admitted her advice on recommended alcohol guidelines could have been better, saying she chose her words poorly when she told women to think about the risk of breast cancer every time they reached for a glass of wine. Times

News & updates November 2016: MUP, remote monitoring, tax debates, video games, AlcoPatch & more

Selected media stories since the October roundup:

News & policy reports

Sections of the alcohol industry have prolonged the fight against Scotland's plans for minimum alcohol pricing (MUP). The Scotch Whisky Association said it had a "strong view that minimum pricing is incompatible with EU law" and would appeal, but Health Secretary Shona Robison said the decision was "deeply disappointing". BBC news and APUK analysis.

At least half of the alcohol sold in Scotland is below the sought 50 pence MUP, a survey suggests. More than two-thirds (69%) of the spirits currently sold fall below the 50p per unit threshold, according to analysts Nielsen - BBC news

News & updates September 2016: Welsh MUP block, air rage, 'alcohosynth', hangovers, ad bans & more

Selected media stories since the August roundup:

Alcohol in the news

Welsh Government attempts to set a minimum 50p per unit (MUP) have been blocked by Westminster in a move criticised by Doctors - BBC News. MPs refused to devolve pricing powers to the Welsh Government who would seek to stop alcohol being sold "cheaper than water".

The growing number of older people being treated for alcohol dependence is 'all over us like a rash', according to an article in The Huffington Post. The number of people in England aged over 60 being treated for alcohol dependence rose 38% between 2009/10 to 2013/14 as 'the ‘Baby Boomer’ Generation continue with hedonistic lifestyles into their later years'.

News & updates March 2016: lower strength drinks; 'One You'; alcohol tags; wine taxation; students; gin; sober raving

Selected media stories since the February roundup:

News

More lower strength drinks options are needed to tackle drink-related health problems, according to the Local Government Association (LGA). The LGA is urging the drinks industry to produce more drinks with fewer or zero units of alcohol and wants government to support this by extending current tax breaks on such drinks. BBC and LGA release.

News & updates February 2016: alcohol and cancer, manifesto for Scottish alcohol policy, drink drive limit

Selected media stories since the January roundup:

Alcohol policy and interventions

Scotland: MSPs have voted down a members bill which would have resulted in a ban on alcohol advertising within 200 metres (656ft) of schools. BBC News

Taxes on alcohol have been branded “a mess” by the Institute for Fiscal Studies, which claimed they were responsible for a shrinking share of tax receipts, saying there was “a clear case for reform” of duties on driving and alcohol as they were poorly targeted at problem drinking. Financial Times

News & updates January 2016: NHS strains, drink driving, kudzu, industry and problem drinkers & more

Selected media stories since the December roundup, not including the widely reported change in drinking guidelines:

Alcohol, health and the NHS

The NHS faces a ticking timebomb of dementia, brain damage and liver disease due to the heavy drinking of the baby boomer generation, reported the Daily Mail

A study reported in the Daily Mail found that alcohol consumption can increase consumption of unhealthy food via its effects on inhibitory control, although not in highly restrained eaters.