Labour indicated yesterday that it was still not prepared to support the Scottish government’s proposal of minimum pricing for alcohol despite shocking new statistics on drink consumption north of the Border.
Scottish adults get through 25 per cent more alcohol than their counterparts in the rest of the UK. The average Scot, according to research based on industry sales data analysed by NHS Health Scotland, drinks the equivalent of nearly 540 pints of beer or 46 bottles of vodka a year.
In total, 50.5 million litres of pure alcohol are sold in Scotland each year, enough for every drinker to exceed the guidelines on weekly consumption. Average weekly sales for Scottish drinkers over the age of 18 were 26.5 units per person, equivalent to about 11 pints of beer or three bottles of wine. In England and Wales the figure was 21.8 units, slightly higher than the recommended weekly maximum for a man.
The figures suggest that Scots are outdrinking the English and Welsh by 2½ pints of beer or 2½ large glasses of wine per week.
Average alcohol consumption has been falling slightly in England and Wales in recent years, yet has remained stubbornly high in Scotland. Sales in Scotland in the year to September averaged 12.2 litres of pure alcohol per person over 18 and this level has remained static since 2005. In England and Wales the figure was 9.7 litres per person, down 0.7 of a litre since 2005.
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The Nationalist government is keen to use the data to increase pressure on Labour MSPs to drop their opposition to introducing a minimum price for drink of an estimated 40 pence per 100 millilitres of alcohol.
The move, say ministers, would not be a panacea for the Scottish taste for drink but would be focused on cheap supermarket lager, cider and spirit products that are especially attractive to Scots. Ministers argue that the rise in Scottish alcohol consumption is linked with what they say is a 70 per cent drop in alcohol’s relative cost.
Nicola Sturgeon, the Scottish Health Secretary, said: “Our country now faces an unprecedented burden from alcohol-related health problems, crime and lost economic productivity.”
Last week the Scottish government released a report from the University of York estimating that alcohol misuse in Scotland cost the public purse up to £4.64 billion a year.
The SNP’s efforts to introduce minimum pricing appear certain to founder on the rock of opposition from Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. However, while the latter two have long made their opposition clear, Labour disclosed only recently that it, too, would vote against.
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There have been signs that Labour, at UK level, may be reconsidering its opposition to minimum pricing in England and Wales in time for the general election, but sources say that any policy shift would centre on the duty levied by the Treasury rather than on what supermarkets should charge.
In Scotland the debate has pitted health experts and senior police officers against big supermarkets and the drinks industry. Jackie Baillie, Labour’s health spokesman, said yesterday: “We need to consider radical measures to reduce problem drinking, but minimum unit pricing is not the answer.”