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Minimum alcohol pricing

gassor

gassor

There may be more posts after this.
Set to come in next year north of the border.

The 50p-per-unit minimum outlined by the legislation would raise the price of the cheapest bottle of red wine (9.4 units of alcohol) to £4.69, a four-pack of 500ml cans of 4% lager (8 units) would cost at least £4 and a 70cl bottle of whisky (28 units of alcohol) could not be sold for less than £14.

Normal strength cider (5% ABV) would cost at least £2.50 a litre but a super-strength version (7.5% ABV) would have to cost a minimum of £3.75 for a litre. (BBC)
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Will it have the desired effect, really don't know, but given the problem here it's probably worth a go. I had thought the wines and spirits would want to maintain a price differential, but maybe they won't and allow the cheaper brands to face a downturn in sales.
 
I understand the thinking behind this but I suspect it will result in more illegal booze being produced and consumed with all the health and crime issues associated with that. Look where prohibitively high tobacco taxing has got us.
 
There's more info and opinion at the link, but this is the bit that drives it home for me:

Last year, Alcohol Focus Scotland claimed the maximum recommended weekly intake of alcohol (14 units) could be bought for just £2.52.

It said super-strength cider and own-brand vodka and whisky could be purchased for as little as 18p per unit of alcohol.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-41981909
 
iiuc where minimum pricing has been tried it has been very effective in reducing problem drinking.
imo it's a very good idea.

"... price-based alcohol policy interventions such as MUP are likely to reduce alcohol consumption, alcohol-related morbidity and mortality"

http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/5/e013497
 
We already have prohibitively high tax on beer relative to the rest of the EU. That said, I think minimum pricing is worth a trial.
 
It's just another way for someone to squuze us dry (no pun intended).
Will it stop young kids getting drunk? no, just make them turn to illegal sources.
 
Probably the worst piece of legislation I've heard of in years! Do they really think "problem drinkers" will drink less? They will eat less and have a worse diet and get in rent arrears etc in order to buy the same amount of booze as before of course! Or of course start making illegal hooch that could make you blind... Prohibition never works. A disaster in the making.

Then there is the whole "nanny state" argument.... If people want to get pissed on cheap booze then who the hell are the SNP to try and stop them. Outrageous!
 
indeed - I remember my mum saying (back in the 70s) that she'd give up smoking when they went upto 50p a pack... she still smokes now.. :(
 
Arkless Repairs said:
Probably the worst piece of legislation I've heard of in years!
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Seriously - what about austerity, universal credit, Brexit, etc?

Do they really think "problem drinkers" will drink less?
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The evidence shows minimum unit pricing works.

They will eat less and have a worse diet and get in rent arrears etc in order to buy the same amount of booze as before of course!
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Perhaps you're unaware the underaged constitute a significant element of problem drinkers.

Or of course start making illegal hooch that could make you blind... Prohibition never works. A disaster in the making.
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Except this has nothing to do with prohibition!
How many times has home brew (something my pals and I dabbled in aged 15/16) caused blindness?

Then there is the whole "nanny state" argument.... If people want to get pissed on cheap booze then who the hell are the SNP to try and stop them. Outrageous!
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I hope that was ironic humour, as the SNP are the democratically elected government.
MUP was in their election manifesto, and it's their responsibility to reduce harm to the population.

The proposed MUP is 50p per unit. This will result in four 440ml cans of five per cent strength lager costing a minimum of £4.40, a 12 per cent bottle of wine £4.50 and a 70cl bottle of whisky £14.

source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/h...eal-reject-alcoholism-addiction-a8055761.html

Possibly one or two of the lil' fish haven't completely understood MUP.
 
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The Welsh Assembly will follow suit, imminently. This has been a decade in the making- as with first to ban smoking in public places, big smiles in Scottish Government today because of the simple corollary- the cheaper alcohol is, the more people die from it. That tide just got turned back.
 
Although this is not Prohibition in the US sense it will encourage illegal (perhaps unregulated is a better word) alcohol consumption and I am not thinking of home brewing here. There have already been case involving the unregulated sale and distribution of Vodka in this country with, in some cases, bad results for those consuming it.

 
Just out of interest, how many here think they're consuming alcohol currently at or below the new (Scottish) minimum unit price?
 
Always said would give up smoking when it got to £2.26 a packet, I won't pay a penny more...... and I didn't.
 
Arkless Repairs said:
Probably the worst piece of legislation I've heard of in years! Do they really think "problem drinkers" will drink less? They will eat less and have a worse diet and get in rent arrears etc in order to buy the same amount of booze as before of course! Or of course start making illegal hooch that could make you blind... Prohibition never works. A disaster in the making.

Then there is the whole "nanny state" argument.... If people want to get pissed on cheap booze then who the hell are the SNP to try and stop them. Outrageous!
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Latest stats I've seen show the biggest boozers are the over 65s. That is the reasonably well off baby boomers who have been used to high booze consumption and continue into old age. There are certainly the 'alkies', but they are far fewer in number. The evidence in favour of MAP is patchy, but Scotland has a real problem so it's probably worth a try. The minimum wage works well, so maybe minimum pricing can have some benefits as well.

PS you probably don't mean prohibition in the above.
 
TheDecameron said:
Just out of interest, how many here think they're consuming alcohol currently at or below the new (Scottish) minimum unit price?
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I'd be amazed if anyone on here was paying less than the 50p/unit, although Aldi had a perfectly respectable Glen Orrin malt whisky for £12.50 a couple of years ago. Checking the mysupermarket website says it is currently unavailable, but it shows 70cl bottles of Grants and Whyte & Mackay whisky in supermarkets at £9, and the rise to £14 will certainly hit them for sales.
 
Standby for compelling counter argument- like the tosser who owned Swallow Hotels who tried to overturn the smoking ban in Scotland. My heart bled when he fought valiantly in court to prove that children would be exposed to more passive smoking because mum and dad would now stay at home in order to smoke rather than travel to the bar of a Swallow Hotel for a fag and a drink.
 
Another huge issue I have with nanny state trying to influence behaviour of any type is it always seems to come in the form of price rises.. This means that the rich can continue to smoke, drink, drive their smog belching 5 litre 4x4's into the London congestion zone, buy sugary drinks for their kids etc etc but it is the poor who are the only ones to be financially forced into compliance with nanny.... In effect it's "one rule for the rich and another for the poor" as usual... Better still "In its majestic equality, the law forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, beg in the streets and steal loaves of bread" Anatole France.
 
Time to invest in off-licences in English Border towns...or to open homebrew shops in Scotland.
 
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