Nicola Sturgeon: Put Scots' health before politics

Published on Friday 25 June 2010 13:29

SCOTLAND'S difficult relationship with alcohol is well documented. Of course, drinking alcohol is something most of us enjoy - and there is nothing at all wrong with responsible drinking. But alcohol misuse is a problem.

We are all too familiar with grim stories of alcohol-fuelled violence, injury and criminal activity putting yet more pressure on our hard-working emergency services, health service and the economy as a whole. Our hospitals, police stations and courts are forced to spend a disproportionate amount of time and money dealing with cases involving alcohol misuse and over-consumption. Every day Scots are dying of alcohol-related conditions.

The time has come to effectively tackle this blight on our communities. We need to put in place a package of measures that involves a joint effort across Scotland. We know from international evidence and research that some interventions are more effective than others. We know that measures to reduce affordability and restrict access are the most effective and any efforts by governments to reduce consumption and harm will be less effective if these issues are not addressed.

The Scottish Government's proposal to introduce minimum pricing as part of the Alcohol Bill is an effective and efficient way of reducing consumption and harm, and kick-starting a change in a culture that costs Scotland a shocking 3.56 billion a year.

Under our proposals, minimum pricing will go hand in hand with a wider series of actions to tackle the alcohol problem, including further restrictions on the display and promotion of alcohol to bring supermarkets and other shops into line with measures already in place in the pub trade.

There is a clear link between price and consumption. Minimum pricing will effectively target problem drinkers who favour the high-strength, low-cost alcohol that would be most affected. It will not, as our critics claim, hit low-income groups or people who drink moderately. More than 80 per cent of those in the lowest income groups either do not drink at all or drink only moderately. They will be largely unaffected by minimum pricing. And of course we should never forget that all of us - including those on low incomes - are paying the price of alcohol misuse. That cost stands at around 900 for every adult in Scotland.

Figures from the Alcohol Minimum Price Model Research produced by the University of Sheffield show that minimum pricing would reduce consumption levels. Alcohol is now around 70 per cent more affordable than it was in 1980 and consumption has increased by around 20 per cent over the same period.

It is not just the Scottish Government that supports minimum pricing and sees it as effective, efficient, targeted, proportionate and, above all, necessary. There is a groundswell of opinion in favour of minimum pricing.Doctors, nurses, the police and a growing number of people in Scotland and around the world back the policy. The World Health Organisation, the British Medical Association, the Association of Chief Police Officers, the Scottish Licensed Trade Association, a range of children's charities and Alcohol Focus Scotland all support minimum pricing. Leading companies in the alcohol industry like Tennent's and Molson Coors - perhaps not natural supporters of government intervention - have adopted a principled stance on the issue. Minimum pricing is now being discussed as a serious option in Northern Ireland, Wales, Manchester, Middlesbrough and New Zealand.

On Friday Tam Baillie, Scotland's commissioner for children and young people, announced his support for minimum pricing as part of a strategy to reduce the harmful effect of parental alcohol misuse on children. Last week Stephen House, the chief constable of Strathclyde Police, called on all politicians to get behind the policy or come up with a viable alternative. So far none of our opponents has taken him up on his offer. They say they support action on price, but not the action the government has proposed. Unfortunately they have failed to come up with a workable alternative.

While a ban on sales below tax has been proposed by the spirits industry, the fact is that would not make any difference. It would create a minimum price so low that it would have no effect on consumption and harm. Retailers have also said they do not sell below tax in any case. However, we want to reach an agreement and reassure the opposition parties, which is why I have said we are willing to introduce a "sunset clause" to the minimum price section of the Alcohol Bill to address their concern about Scotland leading the way.

This would ensure that the minimum price policy is evaluated and reviewed after a set period. If it is proving successful, it would be retained. If not, parliament could choose to end minimum pricing. The claim that we should not progress a policy because nobody else has tried it is a recipe for doing nothing at all. On this issue, however, doing nothing is a luxury we can't afford. On average 115 people in Scotland are admitted to hospital every day due to alcohol abuse. We have soaring rates of cirrhosis of the liver. Alcohol deaths in Scotland have doubled in the past 15 years and now stand at around 3,000 a year. That is a horrific toll, both in financial and physical terms, on our nation.

Minimum pricing isn't a magic bullet and we have never claimed that it is. We have a lot of work ahead, but I urge my colleagues in parliament to listen to the experts and be mature enough to put people and health before party politics. Parliament demonstrated its maturity when passing the smoking ban by putting the wellbeing of the country before party politics and the narrow interests of the tobacco industry. The Alcohol Bill presents a similar opportunity.We should grasp it with both hands.

• Nicola Sturgeon MSP is Cabinet secretary for health and wellbeing