Sales of cider and perry have fallen the most after seeing the sharpest price rises due to minimum unit pricing in Scotland.

But there were more purchases of wine, fortified wine and pre-mixed beverages in the year after the policy.  

The latest Public Health Scotland figures show a reduction in off-trade alcohol sales in Scotland of between four and five percent per adult in the year following the introduction of the flagship minimum unit pricing policy (MUP).

The latest in a series of studies looking at the impact of the policy, the figures cover sales in supermarkets and off-licenses from January 2013 to May 2019.

Eric Carlin, Director of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP), said the results were “extremely encouraging” but warned against any complacency.

He said: “It is important to remember as we move to a post-covid-19 ‘new normal’ that we will need to build on this progress and regain the momentum with alcohol policies, including MUP, that reduce alcohol-related harms that disproportionately affect the poorest communities in Scotland.”

Last month addiction charity We Are With You warned of the danger of “sleepwalking towards a public health crisis” after a huge increase in calls to its drug and alcohol helpline during lockdown.

When MUP was first considered in 2012, deaths from alcohol in Scotland had more than doubled from levels seen in the mid-1990s. SHAAP Chair Peter Rice, explained much of this was related to low cost ciders and vodka.

"It is therefore especially gratifying to see that the largest relative net reduction in off-trade sales…has been in sales of cider and perry,” he said, “and that there has also been a reduction in per-adult sales of spirits.”

Jim Lewsey, Professor of Medical Statistics at the Institute of Health and Wellbeing at University of Glasgow – one of the institutions involved in the study – said the methods used allowed researchers to be much more confident the sales reductions were related to MUP and not due to other factors like seasonal variations.

He said: “Incorporating data from England & Wales into our analysis controls for any changes in sales in a neighbouring region where the legislation was not introduced.

“We’ve also been able to adjust for other factors, such as household income, sales of alcohol through pubs and clubs and of other drink types.”

Scotland’s Public Health Minister Joe FitzPatrick said the “encouraging” findings meant it was now “unarguable” that MUP had delivered a reduction in alcohol sales.

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