Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) comments on the Chancellor’s decision to increase most alcohol duties by RPI in August.
Commenting on the Budget announcement that alcohol duties are to increase in line with inflation, and that the duty system is going to be based on alcoholic strength from 1 August, Dr Alastair MacGilchrist, Chair of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP), said:
“Simplification of alcohol duty has been long overdue. The Treasury has been lobbied extensively by the alcohol industry to keep duty levels as they are, so this Budget is good news.
“Duty has been frozen or cut for the past ten years despite the clear recommendation from the World Health Organization that increasing alcohol tax is a key way to reduce consumption and therefore reduce the number of people who lose their lives to alcohol. Increasing duty in line with inflation will go some way to reversing the damage caused by keeping duty at historically low levels for such an extended period.
“Alcoholic drinks are not an essential product so arguments about the cost-of-living crisis are a red herring. Instead the Treasury has chosen to focus on reducing costly harms caused by alcohol and at the same time raise money for the public purse which – if it wishes – can be used to offset some of the harms caused by alcohol, including investing in the NHS.
“Confirmation that we are going to have a strength-based system is a major step towards improving our health by changing our relationship with alcohol.”
