OPINION
MINIMUM UNIT PRICING STEPHEN MCGOWAN, PARTNER, TLT LLP
MUP: THE GRAND EXPERIMENT MUST RUN ITS COURSE NOW HALFWAY THROUGH ITS SIX YEAR PILOT IN SCOTLAND, MINIMUM UNIT PRICING SHOULD BE
M
ALLOWED TO RUN ITS COURSE WITH NO INCREASE IN UNIT PRICE, ARGUES TLT PARTNER STEPHEN MCGOWAN.
“MUP in Scotland was a world first, and the world is watching. Calls for it to be tinkered with, for the MUP to be increased, for it to be abolished, should be put to one side.”
inimum pricing of alcohol (MUP) is halfway through its six-year pilot in Scotland, with the world waiting expectantly to see what this “grand experiment” will deliver. It is the first scheme of its kind anywhere and therefore an important trial of a system designed to address the impact of MUP on the nation’s health and the alcohol and associated industries. Scotland is a meaningful place to run this pilot, but its findings will also likely help shape important policies in other jurisdictions, in addition to the longer-term regulation of alcohol in Scotland. This becomes even more important after the pandemic, which has had such a profound impact on individuals and retail, leisure, food and drink operators alike. It took several years to reach the scheme that we see today. An important part of bringing it about was the European and in turn Scottish courts’ recognition that the Scottish Government had agreed to a so-called “grand experiment” and, as part of that, a “sunset clause”. This legislative brake was critical to the courts’ acceptance of the scheme, because it meant that the policy was essentially under a live review process, and a decision on whether to reverse it would have to be actively considered by Parliament within a set period. That set period is, in essence, a six-year pilot project – a live, real world study, under the Alcohol (Minimum Pricing) (Scotland) Act 2012 and attendant regulations. The actual unit price is 50p. It was on the basis of this 50p figure that all
WEDNESDAY 17TH FEBRUARY 2021 / ISSUE 43 / SLRMAG.CO.UK / 17
