Problem drinkers have sacrificed heating and eating to pay for state-imposed alcohol price rises, according to Nicola Sturgeon’s own health body.
Minimum unit pricing — one of the key policies of the SNP’s 15 years in power — was introduced to improve the health of heavy drinkers but Public Health Scotland has concluded that it compounded their misery by depriving alcoholics of money for bills and groceries.
As health secretary in 2008 Sturgeon pledged to act “decisively and comprehensively” to tackle problem drinking, which costs the health service more than £2 billion a year. She was first minister by the time that minimum pricing became law a decade later, after frustration caused by legal challenges.
The minimum price per unit of alcohol (MUP) was set
