Calls for Northern Ireland to follow lead of Scotland's alcohol minimum unit pricing which saves 156 lives a year

Outgoing Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon hailed the MUP policy – which placed a minimum charge of 50p on each unit of alcohol – as one of her proudest achievements in office, as a study linked it to a 13% drop in deaths from alcohol.

The research, published in The Lancet, suggests 156 deaths per year on average in Scotland may have been prevented due to the pricing policy, which was implemented in May 2018.

South Belfast MLA Ms Bradshaw said: “The trend across the UK and much of the world in terms of alcohol-related deaths is cause for considerable alarm and, unfortunately, the pandemic has only exacerbated it.

“It is understandable that time was taken to assess whether the policy introduced in Scotland was demonstrably working in its stated intent of reducing these kinds of deaths. Whilst it is clear that a range of measures would be optimal to tackle the trend, all the emerging evidence suggests that minimum unit pricing has a significantly beneficial impact in reducing alcohol-related deaths.

“An equivalent policy in Northern Ireland, if it had a similar outcome, would avert close to 300 deaths over an Assembly term. This is yet another example of where we need a functioning Executive and Assembly back up and running, and making evidence-based policy decisions in order to save lives.”

Earlier this morning Ms Sturgeon tweeted: “Looking back on my years in @scotgov this is one of the policies I’m proudest of.

“It was controversial and difficult but I’m glad we persevered to overcome all the political and court challenges because, as this study suggests, it is saving lives.

“And an aside: if we were attempting to introduce MUP now, there’s every chance this UK Gov would be threatening to block it.

“So it should stand as a reminder, not just of the power of bold public health policy, but also the need to vigorously defend Scottish Parliament powers.”

The Scottish Parliament must vote before May 1 next year on whether or not MUP will continue.