Abolish minimum alcohol pricing, don’t increase it
19 July 2023
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In the Media
In the Media
Len Shackleton quoted in the Yorkshire Times
19 July 2023
Economic Theory
25 June 2024
Responding to a Scottish government consultation on raising the minimum alcohol price to 80p per unit, Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the free market think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs, said:
“When minimum pricing was introduced, it came with a sunset clause promising that it would be abolished if it did not achieve its aims. With alcohol-specific deaths in Scotland at their highest level in over a decade, it has patently failed.
“Minimum pricing costs Scottish drinkers tens of millions of pounds a year. Talk of hiking the price to 80p per unit is a sick joke. This regressive policy should be abolished, and those involved with foisting it on the public should apologise.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Contact: media@iea.org.uk / 07763 365520
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
“When minimum pricing was introduced, it came with a sunset clause promising that it would be abolished if it did not achieve its aims. With alcohol-specific deaths in Scotland at their highest level in over a decade, it has patently failed.
“Minimum pricing costs Scottish drinkers tens of millions of pounds a year. Talk of hiking the price to 80p per unit is a sick joke. This regressive policy should be abolished, and those involved with foisting it on the public should apologise.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Contact: media@iea.org.uk / 07763 365520
- In June 2023, Snowdon responded to Public Health Scotland’s (PHS) final report on the impact of minimum unit pricing (MUP) by stating Minimum alcohol pricing evaluation is a ‘whitewash,’ says IEA expert.
- In May 2022, the IEA published The Hangover: The cost of minimum alcohol pricing in Scotland, which estimated that MUP has cost consumers £270 million in its first four years.
- In March 2023, Snowdon wrote about The minimum pricing salvage job, outlining issues with the study that claims minimum pricing ‘led to’ a 13.4 per cent decline in deaths.
- In August 2022, Snowdon wrote about how Minimum pricing isn’t working.
The mission of the Institute of Economic Affairs is to improve understanding of the fundamental institutions of a free society by analysing and expounding the role of markets in solving economic and social problems. The IEA is a registered educational charity and independent of all political parties.
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