A LANDMARK Scottish Government policy on reducing alcohol abuse and death risks having no effect if it is not urgently reviewed.

Despite pledging to reassess the minimum unit price (MUP) policy two years after its implementation, Holyrood ministers have delayed the review and are still to decide on its future.

Campaigners say the price must now be urgently raised to keep up with inflation and stop more deaths, while an MP has accused the Scottish Government of “dropping the ball” on the policy while prematurely taking credit for its initial success.

The MUP was introduced in 2018 in Scotland, after a six-year delay due to court challenges from the alcohol industry.

However the price – 50p per unit of alcohol – remained unchanged from when the plans were discussed in 2012 and now experts say it needs to be raised urgently or it could render the MUP policy useless in future.

Kenny MacAskill, MP for East Lothian, wrote to public health minister Maree Todd about his concerns, and was told that no decision had yet been made on whether the price would rise.

He said this was unacceptable given the effect of the pandemic on alcohol-related deaths, and if the work had been done when it was supposed to, lives may have been saved.

In the first year of the policy, alcohol-specific deaths fell by 10%, from 1136 in 2018 to 1020 in 2019.

Ministers were quick to take credit for the fall, citing the new MUP as a reason for its decline.

A government spokeswoman said previously that the 10% fall was a “notable reduction….in the first full year following the introduction of Scotland’s world leading minimum unit pricing policy”, adding: “The number of alcohol specific deaths is a key indicator of the impact minimum unit pricing has on alcohol harms and these figures represent the positive steps the Scottish Government is taking to tackle alcohol-related harms.”

However national records of Scotland’s director of statistics said at the time “further data will be required to see if this reduction continues and whether we will see a sustained shift in alcohol-specific deaths in Scotland.”

The following year, 2020, the figure rose by 17%, to 1190 – the highest since records began in 2008. At the same time, the review of the policy was postponed and has still not been completed, 16 months after it was supposed to.

In her letter to Mr MacAskill, Ms Todd acknowledged that the pandemic and lockdowns had seen people “consuming more alcohol at home with the restrictions on hospitality playing a significant part in this”.

She added: “Various surveys have shown that those who were drinking heavily before the pandemic were more likely to increase their drinking during lockdown, thereby increasing their risk of harm.”

Along with the rise in alcohol consumption from home, Ms Todd told the Alba MP that support services had to adapt quickly to the changed situation” but insisted the Scottish Government had put in significant efforts to get them back up and running.

On a review of the MUP level, Ms Todd added that work had started in 2019 to review the policy but “was paused” in 2020.

She said it was now “too early in the process” to decide on whether the price should be raised.

Mr MacAskill has hit out at the minister’s response, saying the government was failing to take decisive action.

He has also urged minister to raise the MUP to 65p per unit, following the announcement from Ireland that it would be introducing a similar levy on its alcohol sales from January 2022, and suggested that the government look at other measures such as requiring alcohol to be bought at separate tills in supermarkets.

He told The Herald: “Lockdown should have been a reason for reviewing MUP not halting it. It was clear that home drinking was increasing and the risk to the vulnerable growing.

MUP is a good policy that has previously saved lives but it needs applied properly.

“That means it has to be set at an appropriate rate. The current rate was set before court action commenced let alone concluded. It was out of date when MUP was first applied and most certainly is now.”

He added: “Ireland is seeking to follow Scotland by introducing it but is doing so at a rate that would be 65p here. The Scottish Government should stop praising itself for what was done years ago and start doing what’s necessary now.

“MUP needs increased and other actions such as separate tilling brought in.”

Dr Peter Rice, President of the European Alcohol Policy Alliance and former chairman of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) said the Scottish Government was told as far back as 2006 that it would need to raise the MUP if the policy was to remain effective.

He said: “ SHAAP first called for Minimum Unit Price in 2006. At that time we said that an uprating mechanism would be necessary to see any benefit from the policy maintained.

“While, as predicted by the modelling, minimum unit pricing had an initial positive impact on reducing deaths caused by alcohol and on hospitalisations for liver disease, the impact of the pandemic and the fact that the minimum unit price has not kept up with inflation means we now urgently need to see an increase in the 50p set almost a decade ago.”

Dr Rice also agreed with Mr MacAskill that the minimum rice should rise to 65p per unit, adding: “ Of course, minimum unit pricing isn’t the only measure that needs to be taken to reduce alcohol harm, but it is a significant one if Scotland is going to make sustained progress on reducing harm, particularly as it is shown to have the biggest impact amongst people living in our most deprived communities who are hardest hit by the health and other problems which alcohol brings.

“This is a population-wide measure that works and we need to ensure it keeps working.”

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: “ As we have made clear, responding to the global pandemic over the last 18 months has been the Scottish Government’s priority. Since the start of the pandemic, the Scottish Government has taken action to assist those who are drinking at harmful levels.

"We have continued to work with alcohol treatment and support services to get services back to pre-pandemic levels as quickly as possible, which included additional funding to extend outreach initiatives which identify people at risk, address their immediate health concerns, and get them the support they need.

“We continue to keep the level of the MUP under review, and will consider all relevant emerging evidence.

"A range of factors will need to be taken into account including the impact of the pandemic on the economy, people’s incomes and alcohol affordability."