A new minimum unit price (MUP) for alcohol will be imposed across Scotland from today (Monday).  

The level the levy will be placed on all alcoholic drinks will rise from 50p to 65p per unit, increasing the price of beers, wines and spirits in pubs and shops.  

The Scottish Government has said the price rise will help save lives, with the latest figures showing the rate of drink-related deaths is still the highest in the UK. 

The rise has been welcomed by doctors, but they have urged the Scottish Government to go further and stop “dragging its feet” on plans to restrict the marketing of alcohol.  

Drugs and alcohol policy minister Christina McKelvie said the 30 per cent hike would help save more lives. 

In April, she told Holyrood that voting in favour of the rise would “show that Scotland continues to be world leading, with policies to improve the health of people”. 

However, Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane spoke out against the increase, arguing that increasing the MUP “disproportionately penalises responsible drinkers on a low income and those dependent on alcohol”. 

Alcohol will now cost more in bars and supermarkets Alcohol will now cost more in bars and supermarkets (Image: PA)

Expert doctors’ group Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP), have welcomed the increase, and called for much more to be done to tackle the high levels of deaths from alcohol in Scotland. 

 The group said that MUP is widely regarded as Scotland’s most thoroughly evaluated policy, which a Public Health Scotland independent evaluation had concluded reduced population-wide consumption, directly saved 156 lives and averted 411 hospital admissions every year and reduced alcohol-related health inequalities  

However, a combination of the long-lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on alcohol consumption patterns and the level of MUP not being uprated after it was introduced in 2018 means that Scotland is now experiencing high levels of alcohol-specific deaths. 

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Dr Peter Rice, Chair of SHAAP said: “While MUP has undoubtedly mitigated the worst extremes of the impacts of the pandemic on alcohol consumption that have been experienced in many countries worldwide, it’s tragic that last year 1,277 people lost their lives in Scotland directly because of alcohol. 

“The Scottish Government must maintain MUP’s effectiveness by uprating it annually so that cheaper alcohol that causes the most harm does not become more affordable over time, but we need to see much more than this if the Scottish Government is going to effectively respond to the public health emergency of alcohol harms in Scotland. 

“Instead we are seeing a government that is dragging its feet over plans to restrict marketing of alcohol products in the face of intense opposition from the industry and its allies, with no alternative plans being put in place.”  

He added: “If it wants to prevent the vast health, social and economic harms caused by alcohol in Scotland, the Scottish Government needs to build on the success of the MUP policy by taking forward measures to reset our relationship with alcohol and protect the health and wellbeing of future generations.”