Scotland increases minimum alcohol price to 65p in bid to curb demand

The price of alcohol is to be increased further in Scotland in an attempt to reduce the harm caused by what is described as the country’s favourite drug.

The minimum price that alcohol can be sold at is to be increased from 50p a unit to 65p, raising the price of a standard bottle of whisky by £4.40 to £18.20 and the cheapest bottle of wine by £1.46 to take it to £6.34.

Scotland was the first country in the world to introduce minimum unit pricing (MUP) and fought a lengthy legal battle with the drinks industry to be able to implement the policy in 2018.1

The Scottish parliament made a commitment to evaluate the impact of the measure before deciding …