Minimum Unit Pricing for Alcohol May Not Be a Proportionate Public Health Intervention

Setting a minimum unit price for the sale of alcoholic beverages has been on the agenda of the Scottish government for many years. As far back as 1999 the then newly formed Scottish Government decided to review data on the use of alcohol that revealed trends in Scottish alcohol consumption such as the fact that in the two decades following 1994 alcohol sales went from being split equally between the on-trade and off-trade to the off-trade comprising around 70 per cent of sales. Further studies reveal that the affordability of alcohol throughout the whole United Kingdom increased steadily between 1987 and 2007, with duty increases frequently short of inflation, and with supermarkets continuing to use alcohol as a loss leader. The result has been an increase in the affordability of wines and beers by 129% and 153% respectively