Balance and grieving mum welcome raising of alcohol Minimum Unit Price in Scotland and call for action in England
Balance the North East alcohol programme and a grieving mum whose daughter died from drinking cheap strong alcohol have backed a raising of the Minimum Unit Price in Scotland.
As the Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) level increases today from 50p to 65p per unit over the border, campaigners in England are joining the call for more to be done to reduce record levels of illness and deaths from alcohol in England.
It comes as Balance launches “Reducing Alcohol Harm”, a ground-breaking blueprint calling for urgent national action in England to tackle the significant impact of alcohol on health, social care, crime, disorder, workplaces, and the economy.
Evidence suggests MUP and ridding the shelves of the cheapest, strongest alcohol would help reduce deaths and hospital admissions from alcohol – with the biggest impact in the North East. Duty cuts over the last decade have also contributed to rising harm.
Currently alcohol contributes to nearly 980,000 hospital admissions and secondary diagnoses in England each year, including conditions such as cardiovascular disease, mental and behavioural disorders, cancers, and liver disease.
MUP is widely regarded as Scotland’s most thoroughly evaluated alcohol policy. The Public Health Scotland independent evaluation of the policy which spanned 5 years and over 40 studies, concluded that:
MUP reduced population-wide consumption by over 3% and targeted the cheap, high strength products associated with the most harms;
- MUP is estimated to have directly saved 156 lives and averted 411 hospital admissions every year;
- MUP reduced alcohol-related health inequalities by reducing harms most in men and people living in Scotland’s most deprived areas, who are worst affected;
- MUP hasn’t been associated with any significant unintended consequences, including negative financial effects on the alcohol industry or the economy.
In addition, research by Institute of Alcohol Studies has found has found 78% of all alcohol consumption is by people drinking at hazardous or harmful levels.
The financial cost of alcohol is immense, with the North East alone incurring costs of around £1.5 billion annually in health, crime and disorder, social care, and economic costs, and nearly £27.4 billion across England.
Tyneside mum, Joanne Good, tragically lost her daughter, Megan, when she was just 16 years old. Megan had drunk cheap white cider at a New Year’s Eve party and died in her sleep. She has campaigned for action on cheap, strong alcohol ever since.
The coroner’s report ruled that tragically the alcohol in her system had prevented the normal preventative gag reflex from happening and she had died from pulmonary aspiration. Megan would have been 27 this month.
Joanne supports the introduction of MUP and said: “I know the impact cheap, strong alcohol can have on people’s lives, because it has devastated ours.
“Cheap, strong alcohol is on sale in almost every off licence and supermarket and it poses a particular risk to children and young people. We need more action to protect them – and other vulnerable people – from using cheap alcohol as a crutch. As we’ve seen in Scotland, Minimum Unit Price targets the cheapest, strongest alcohol – such as own brand spirits, beers and cider – so that it’s no longer available at pocket money prices.
“Losing Megan has broken our family, and if it can happen to us, it can happen to anybody. I wouldn’t want any family to go through what we’ve been through so I will keep campaigning until I see some action to reduce the devastating consequences of alcohol.”
Sue Taylor, Head of Alcohol Policy for Balance said: “All the evidence suggests that meaningful action on the price of alcohol would help reduce deaths and hospital admissions from alcohol – with the biggest impact in the North East. We have also seen the impact of repeated alcohol duty cuts on rising hospital admissions.
“8/10 people in the North East believe alcohol is a significant problem both nationally and regionally – it is no surprise when we are seeing such impact on our NHS wards and in our communities.
“At a time when illness and alcohol deaths in England and especially here in the North East are at an all-time high, we need similarly proactive and enlightened public health policies to reduce alcohol harm and protect the most vulnerable in our communities.
“MUP has been shown to be such a policy and whilst it should be part of a wider package of measures to reduce alcohol consumption and harm, its introduction would be hugely welcome in England and of particular benefit to this region.”
Balance Blueprint for Reducing Alcohol Harm recommendations:
1: Commit to the introduction of an evidence-based national alcohol strategy for England, free from alcohol industry influence.
2: Take steps to raise awareness of alcohol harms, via the delivery of public education campaigns such as Balance’s ‘Alcohol is Toxic’ campaign, the introduction of mandatory health warnings and nutritional / unit / calories information on alcohol labels.
3: Introduce pricing policies which improve public health and protect the public purse, including a minimum unit price (MUP) for alcohol in England and a fairer alcohol duty system which keeps pace with inflation.
4: Introduce restrictions on alcohol marketing to protect children and vulnerable people.
5: Introduce a ‘public health objective’ in England and Wales and consideration of a wider overhaul of the Licensing Act.
6: Invest in prevention and early intervention and improving access to specialist support for at-risk drinkers.
7: Ensure that the alcohol industry is prohibited from involvement in the development of public policy around alcohol.