CAMPAIGNERS have hailed a court ruling making Scotland the first country to raise the price of alcohol as “the biggest public health breakthrough since the ban on smoking in public places”– amid claims the landmark decision will save hundreds of lives.

The Scottish Government has vowed to press ahead with the introduction of a Minimum Unit Price (MUP) for alcohol, insisting that the drink-related death toll remains “unacceptably high”.

Within six months the cost of alcohol will be set at a base line of 50p per unit, meaning an end to cheap drink promotions and bargain-basement prices, with the price of super-strength cider expected to treble.

It comes after a protracted five-year legal battle between the Scottish Government and the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA), which opposed the plans.

Following the Supreme Court’s decision to reject a legal challenge, Alison Douglas, chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said other countries, such as Ireland and Wales, were also actively pursuing legislation.

One of the architects of the plan, former Justice Minister Kenny MacAskill, said that the court judgement was an important milestone in curbing Scotland’s relationship with high-strength alcohol.

And he took aim at the SWA for trying to block the policy, saying that their products would be among the least affected by a price increase.

“The whole purpose of it is to reduce the consumption of high-strength low-cost alcohol,” he said.

“It’s the drink that fuels so much disorder and is the beverage of choice for those most afflicted by alcohol related problems.

“Lives will be saved just as, tragically, lives have been lost through the actions of the Scotch Whisky Association who are responsible for the delay,” he said.

He added: “They opposed it at every opportunity and at great cost. Yet, the legislation will have a very limited effect on the product that bears their name.

“This was all about cider and vodka which are the low-cost products causing most harm.”

Nicola Sturgeon said it had been a “long road” to get to this point but it had been a “bold and necessary move to improve public health”.

And she praised the tireless efforts of the late Evelyn Gillan – the main advocate behind the minimum pricing campaign – who lit the touch paper a decade ago.

The First Minister said the introduction of minimum pricing in Scotland was Ms Gillan’s “legacy”.

“Evelyn Gillan was an early advocate for minimum unit pricing and stood with us every step of the way,” said Ms Sturgeon “As Health Secretary when this legislation made its way through Parliament, I know that we would never have got this far without Evelyn’s tireless efforts,” she said. “She would have been proud today, as I was of her dedication to reducing alcohol harm and saving lives.”

The campaign for minimum pricing began a decade ago and was led by Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP).

It brought together health experts – psychiatrists, doctors and GPs – to consider ways to tackle Scotland’s problem with alcohol.

Ms Gillan, who had formerly led the Zero Tolerance campaign on domestic abuse, was appointed director of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems in 2007 and, in that role, she led the campaign for minimum pricing.

She died in 2015 after a battle with stomach cancer.

Yesterday Dr Peter Rice, a consultant psychiatrist and chairman of SHAAP, said he wished his former colleague had been around to see the fruits of her labour.

He said. “Evelyn would have been pleased as it seemed a bit of a long shot at the time.

“We needed a director who was going to have the skills, time and space to take the ideas from the clinical frontline and turn it into policy. We knew that cheap alcohol was the problem. Industry said we could not control price, that it was contrary to competition law.

“Evelyn found that was not true.” Her ability to spend time looking into these questions opened the possibilities for us that otherwise we would not have realised were there.”

Dr Rice said that Ms Gillan went on to work with colleagues from the clinical sector to develop the policy and work with politicians including Ms Sturgeon, Malcolm Chisholm and Shona Robison on the proposal.

He added: “We knew that there was going to be a battle from some parts of the industry. The opposition has come from those companies which operate globally.

“We had support from individual pubs and brewers. Evelyn was able to spend time building relationships, going round pub by pub. That enabled us to understand the dynamic within the industry.”

Ms Gillan went on to be chief executive of Alcohol Focus Scotland.  Dr Rice said: “To have had five years of legal challenges has been disappointing.

“It would have been so nice if she had been around to see this happen. It wasn’t to be. I miss her.”

Paying tribute to Ms Gillan, Ms Douglas, of Alcohol Focus Scotland, tweeted yesterday: “Her vision was the catalyst. We miss her personally and professionally and wish she could have seen this day.”

In a statement later, she added: “Minimum pricing is Scotland’s biggest public health breakthrough since the ban on smoking in public places.  “The Scottish Government are to be applauded for determinedly seeing it through in the face of global spirits producers’ attempts to deter action and delay implementation.  “Our First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon deserves credit for this. Let’s hope she can now get minimum pricing in place as soon as possible.”