Alcohol-content-based taxation or minimum unit pricing (MUP) are both predicted to reduce health inequalities more than taxation based on product value (ad valorem taxes) or alcohol tax increases under the current system (excise duty plus value added tax) in England, according to research published this week in PLOS Medicine. Petra Meier of the University of … Read More →
Earlier this month the Welsh government published its plans for minimum pricing. The plans are based on research suggesting that a minimum charge of 50p per unit would save nearly £900m over 20 years by cutting crime and illness, with 50 fewer deaths a year. Ministers said they were committed to using their powers to … Read More →
New Canadian research finds crimes, including murders, sexual assaults and drink-driving, dropped 9% over a decade as authorities in British Columbia increased prices by 10%. The conclusions fuel the debate about the need for minimum unit pricing. The research, published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, shows crimes, including violent assaults, fell … Read More →
The BBC reports that the European Court of Justice is to hear evidence from the Scottish government on its case for introducing a minimum unit price for alcohol. The hearing in Luxembourg will enable the court to produce its preliminary ruling on the policy. The Scottish Parliament passed legislation to bring in a minimum unit … Read More →
Professor Frank Murray, president of the Royal College of Physicians Ireland, said for minimum unit pricing to be effective in Ireland, the unit price of alcohol should be at least €1, the same as a litre of milk. Murray, who is also a liver decease expert in Beaumont Hospital Dublin, moreover called for a reduction … Read More →
Donald Henderson, the head of public health in Scotland has pleaded for the alcohol industry to withdraw its court case against the Scottish government’s plan to introduce minimum unit pricing. Henderson asked instead to wait five years for the pioneering policy to complete its trial. At the sixth European Alcohol Policy Conference in Brussels last … Read More →