October 2022 |
Wulf Livingston from Wrexham Glyndŵr University looks at what research into minimum unit pricing (MUP) can tell us so far.
Price policies work on the logic that increasing alcohol prices relative to people’s spending power leads to less alcohol consumption, which in turn leads to reduced harms.
The biggest impact of MUP has not been on supermarket wines ... The biggest changes have been seen in the strongest, cheapest products, like white cider, previously sold for as little as 20p per unit.
The detail of any impact of MUP is nuanced and we should be cautious about making bold claims. But we know that very cheap alcohol contributes to alcohol harms, and we have some evidence that minimum alcohol pricing policy can effectively address this.
