health professionals said they are stepping up their efforts to see minimum ­pricing for alcohol north of the Border.

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems is taking its battle for the policy to be implemented in Scotland all the way to Brussels next week.

The partnership of the Scottish Medical Royal Colleges and Faculties and the Royal College of Nursing has hit out at what it sees as "the continued opposition by global alcohol producers to the implementation of Scotland's alcohol minimum unit pricing (MUP) policy".

Legislation to introduce a minimum unit price of 50p north of the Border was passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2012.

But the legislation has not yet come into force because a group led by the Scotch Whisky Association (SWA) and other European wine and spirits producers has mounted a legal challenge to the Scottish Government's plans.

They argue that minimum pricing legislation breaches European law, while Scottish ministers have said they are committed to introducing the policy in a bid to address the country's unhealthy relationship with drink, and save lives.

The SWA's legal bid was initially rejected by Judge Lord Doherty at the Court of Session in Edinburgh last year.

Following an appeal ­hearing, judges at the court referred the case against the policy to the Court of Justice of the European Union.

SWA spokeswoman Rosemary Gallagher said: "We agree that alcohol misuse must be tackled. Initiatives in place seem to be working - alcohol-related harms and deaths have been falling in Scotland for many years."