A ban on low cost alcohol sales needs to be introduced across the UK to reduce the damage caused by overconsumption, says an independent commission set up by the Scottish Labour Party.

The commission recommends that a “floor price” be set for alcohol sales based on the combined cost of production, duty and value added tax (VAT). It rejected the Scottish government’s proposal that a minimum unit price should be set for alcohol saying there is no convincing evidence that such an approach would be effective. It would be difficult to introduce different pricing structures across the UK, claims the commission.

On 2 September the Scottish government announced it would …