Minimum pricing unit proposal could see rise of 15p per unit
By Alex Bryce, Euan Smith, Jack Meney
Alcohol consumption continues to be discouraged (Image: Getty Images)
The Scottish Government on the 8th of February, announced MUP will rise 30% to 65p. A current sunset clause means that the current regulation will expire in April. Any price spike will need to be confirmed by the UK Government and any action taken won’t come into place until September 30th.
In Scotland one in four people drinks alcohol to a harmful or a hazardous level of more than 14 units per week. According to Alcohol Focus Scotland, 21% of adults admitted to consuming over the recommended weekly amount in Glasgow alone.
Back in 2012, the Scottish Parliament passed the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act, an act which, in 2018, allowed the Scottish Ministers to implement the minimum unit pricing (MUP) of 50p per unit. This change in law meant that a £1.99 litre bottle cider, was going to leap 151% in price and would cost consumers £5 after the law was put in place.
The Alcohol (Minimum Pricing)(Scotland) Act 2012 was put in place to, according to the Scottish Government: “Save lives, reduce hospital admissions and, ultimately, have positive impacts across the whole health system in Scotland and for wider society.”
As of 2021, there was 1,944 places that hold an alcohol licence in Glasgow and in 2022 Glasgow was named the binge drinking capital of Scotland, with only Stoke on Trent trumping them in the UK rankings.
Stephen O’Connor, a 19-year-old student at Strathclyde University, believes that the rise in MUP will coincide with a rise in binge drinking, admitting that he will go out less now, but when he does, he will most likely drink more
He said: “I feel as if when I go out now, I’ll probably be more inclined drink more, as the rise will mean I’m going to be going out less, as I simply can’t afford it anymore.”
A bar manager in Glasgow city centre, who wished to remain anonymous, believes pubs and bars will be hit the hardest given if rise comes into place, explaining that she thinks people will stop coming to bars, implying pubs won’t be able to compete with the deals supermarkets offer,
She said: “I think it will put people off coming to the pub, as there will be deals on in supermarkets, so they’ll just go home, or in the summer they’ll just take to the parks and we will see a rise in drink related issues with that.”
Patrick Barker, 42, from Glasgow, also believes it will cause a rise in street drinking.
He said: “I think people will just head to supermarkets to get their alcohol and drink in their homes or in public parks, furthering the demise in the pub in Glasgow.”
Pubs are losing customers (Image: Getty Images)
This recent news of the Scottish government’s attempt to raise the minimum unit pricing of alcohol by 30% (50p-65p) comes as a response to the on-going alcoholism problem in Scotland. According to National Records of Scotland, there were 35,187 alcohol-related hospital admissions (stays) in Scotland in 2021/22 and with that stat in mind, 21,840 Scottish residents had at least one admission with an alcohol-related condition. Due to pressure already on the NHS with backlash from Covid and industrial action, these additional admission numbers due to alcohol won’t help the matter.
Alcohol-specific deaths in Scotland is currently a big issue which we can only assume is one of the major reasons for this recent government decision. In 2022 there was an increase of 2% of deaths where alcohol was an underlying issue. With the first rise of the unit pricing occurring in 2018, this was not affective, so the government clearly see it as essential that they react now with further action.
The community around Glasgow is one of the main groups in Scotland affected by drinking cultures in areas of deprivation. Figures that show that those in poverty are at higher risk of hospital admissions due to alcohol with rates being six times higher in the most deprived areas than the least deprived areas in Scotland. Alcohol-specific rates in the most deprived areas were 4.3 times more than those in the least deprived areas. By raising the MUP, it would be assumed that those who live in these areas of deprivation wouldn’t be able to drink as much as they simply could not afford it.